Replies to post #221552 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

…NKTR has a collaboration with SNDX (where they test 214 in combo with entinostat…

Right, but no data from that collaboration are available yet (#msg-141180940); the phase-1/2 trial has not even started, as far as I know. So, today’s NKTR selloff and today’s SNDX selloff are not directly related.

‘dangerM’ also commented on Roche’s IL-2 program, which could be the main impetus for NKTR’s selloff.

[dangerM]

sorry, I should read this forum in a reverse time order

BTW some of the data is here

$RHHBY RO6874281, first IL-2 variant to show activity in monotherapy (some responses in melanoma after failure on checkpoint blockade) #ESMO18 pic.twitter.com/lsWwlRttM7

— Jacob Plieth (@JacobPlieth) October 20, 2018

I guess it's not the data but somehow the awareness that anyone can work on a biased IL2 agonist

[jbog]

Nektar Therapeutics plunges as Roche data seen as concern

Shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) are under pressure as H.C. Wainwright analyst Debjit Chattopadhyay tells investors Roche's (RHHBY) RO6875281, a fibroblast activation protein targeted interleukin-2 variant, is "off to a good start."

ROCHE DATA SHOULD CONCERN NEKTAR BULLS:

In a research note to investors, H.C. Wainwright's Chattopadhyay said he believes Roche's preliminary data of RO6875281, a fibroblast activation protein targeted interleukin-2 variant, should concern the bulls of Nektar Therapeutics. The 11% and 20% overall response rate for single agent RO6875281 in squamous cell head and neck cancer and melanoma is compelling, the analyst contended. Further, Chattopadhyay noted that Nektar's NKTR-214 had no monotherapy activity, and the early promise in combination with Opdivo "has faded potentially due to its limited PK profile." In addition, the analyst argued that the monotherapy activity with pegilodecakin, a pegylated IL-10 being developed by Eli Lily (LLY), further complicates the competitive landscape for NKTR-214.

He believes the second generation of "not alpha" IL-2, which is poised to enter the clinic during 2019, could further "upend" NKTR-214 and might compel Nektar's partner Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) to "re-evaluate the aggressive development strategy that was outlined earlier this year." The analyst reiterated a Neutral rating and $54 price target on Nektar's shares. SHORT REPORT ON NEKTAR: Earlier this month, Plainview published a short report on Nektar Therapeutics saying that the stock has "zero value."

In the report, Plainview argued that the "First rule of biotechnology investing: if a company withholds data from investors, that data is always bad." "Investors believe that NKTR-214 could have synergistic effects with checkpoint inhibitors and become a new universal cancer treatment. We disagree-the thesis and clinical data are nearly identical to the now-disproven IDO inhibitor story, and the notion that a failed monotherapy will add statistically significant value as part of a combination therapy has never worked in practice. In cancer research, the total efficacy of combination therapy is less than the sum of the parts, not more. This is especially true for IL-2 which-despite showing indisputable efficacy as monotherapy- failed to show benefit in any of the three controlled trials where it was tested as part of a combination therapy. [...]

Nektar's stock plunged after ASCO 2018, where Nektar reported declining response rates in its RCC and melanoma treatment groups. Even more alarming was Nektar's decision to only disclose response rates for 31% (87/283) of dosed patients at ASCO 2018- an unprecedented level of data opacity and a stark contrast to the 95% (36/38) disclosed at SITC 2017," the report reads. PRICE ACTION: In afternoon trading, shares of Nektar Therapeutics have dropped almost 18% to $39.55.

Read more at:
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2808234