Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR)

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Nektar Therapeutics Reports Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results
Press Release
Source: Nektar Therapeutics
On Tuesday August 4, 2009, 4:15 pm EDT

Companies:Nektar Therapeutics
SAN CARLOS, Calif., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR - News) today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Net loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 was $32.1 million or $0.35 per share, compared to net loss of $33.4 million or $0.36 per share in the second quarter of 2008.

Nektar made improvements to its operating efficiencies as compared to a year ago. Total operating costs and expenses were down 19% to $43.5 million in the second quarter of 2009 as compared to $53.8 million in the second quarter of 2008. For the first half of 2009, total operating costs and expenses were down 28% to $83.5 million as compared to $115.6 million in the first half of 2008.

"In the first half of 2009, we made a strong commitment to advancing our clinical pipeline," stated Howard W. Robin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nektar. "We completed our Phase 2 clinical program for NKTR-118, and we are poised to report Phase 2 data for NKTR-102 and Phase 1 data for NKTR-105 by year-end. These achievements underscore the strength of Nektar's drug development organization and our successful strategy to focus on developing proprietary drugs with our advanced polymer conjugate technology."

Research and development expense was $24.2 million in the second quarter of 2009 as compared to $33.5 million for the same quarter in 2008. For the first half of 2009, research and development expense was $48.0 million as compared to $70.9 million for the first half of 2008. Included in the $48.0 million of overall research and development expense in the first half of 2009 is approximately $27.4 million of investment in Nektar preclinical and clinical development programs.

Revenue for the three month period ended June 30, 2009 was $13.0 million compared to revenue of $20.4 million in the second quarter of 2008. Revenue for the first half of 2009 was $22.7 million as compared to revenue of $40.4 million in the first half of 2008. This decrease in revenue is primarily the result of lower contract research and manufacturing revenues resulting from the sale of certain of the company's pulmonary assets to Novartis which occurred on December 31, 2008.

Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments at June 30, 2009 were $294.3 million.

Conference Call to Discuss Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results

A conference call to review results will be held on August 4, 2009 at 2 PM Pacific Time.

Details are below:

Howard Robin, president and chief executive officer, and John Nicholson, chief financial officer, will host a conference call beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)/2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) on Tuesday, August 4, 2009.


To access the conference call, follow these instructions:

Dial: [phone] (U.S.); [phone] (international)
Passcode: 25099763 (Howard Robin is the host)

An audio replay will also be available shortly following the call through Wednesday, August 19, 2009 and can be accessed by dialing [phone] (U.S.); or [phone] (international) with a passcode of 26851386.