Biotech Values

[poorgradstudent]

NKTR:

This is admittedly unscientific, but it seems intuitively unlikely that a small-molecule drug added to a checkpoint inhibitor is going to be the Holy Grail in the treatment of metastatic cancers. I think this is one reason NKTR-214 is generating more excitement than, say, Epacadostat.

NKTR has 22 evaluable RCC patients with 0 or 1 prior line of therapy and accrued 11 responses (1 CR) in 22 patients, or 50%.

INCY had 19 evaluable patients with 0 or 1 prior line of therapy* and accrued 9 responses (1 CR) for 47%. I don't have exact breakdown of how many were 0 and how many were 1 prior therapy, but the enrollment ratio was 3:4. FWIW, I'm *very* pessimistic in this indication for epacadostat.


I think the key to generating excitement is to find the best light to shine on your drug.



* At the most recent report, they had 30 enrolled but only 19 were evaluable. That's why I can't determine exact breakdown.