Nektar Therapeutics Inc. President and CEO Howard Robin didn’t mince words during a call with investors after market close Feb. 23 to disclose top-line data from a phase II study testing rezpegaldesleukin (rezpeg) in systemic lupus erythematosus, which fell short of partner Eli Lilly and Co.’s criteria for advancing to phase III and raised uncertainty as to how the big pharma might proceed in other indications such as atopic dermatitis (AD).
During its Feb. 27, 2020, conference call on the previous year’s fourth-quarter results – though not in a related press release – Nektar Therapeutics Inc. let news drop that the prospective breast cancer (BC) therapy Onzeald (etirinotecan pegol) for patients with brain metastases had failed in top-line phase III outcomes.