Nektar facing reorg after BMS-partnered program’s melanoma failure
Four years after BMS paid nearly $1.9B up front to share IL-2 program’s rights, Phase III failure leaves Nektar at a crossroads
With Nektar’s shares at a 10-year low following Monday’s failure of a bempegaldesleukin combination as first-line therapy for melanoma, the biotech is preparing for a reorganization that could hinge on two more upcoming readouts for the BMS-partnered molecule.
Monday’s data showed that bempegaldesleukin plus Opdivo nivolumab significantly improved neither progression-free survival nor objective response rate compared with Opdivo alone in the Phase III PIVOT IO-001 trial, missing two of its primary endpoints. The combo has not yet shown a benefit on a third endpoint measuring overall survival; the trial will be unblinded, and no further OS analyses will be performed. The biotech is also ending enrollment in the Phase III PIVOT-12 study of the therapy as an adjuvant treatment for melanoma...