After rolling out positive, preliminary phase I CAR natural killer cell data, Nkarta Inc. saw its stock (NASDAQ:NKTX) soar to $18.72, up $10.95, or 140.9%, as Wall Street made known its pleasure in results from the small, independent dose-finding studies with Nkarta’s two off-the-shelf lead candidates, NKX-101 and NKX-019, in two groups of blood cancer patients: those with relapsed/refractory (r/r) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and with r/r non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), respectively.
Two California companies – Nkarta Inc. and Poseida Therapeutics Inc. – scored impressive IPOs but with decidedly different post-pricing performance, as Wall Street showed its enthusiasm for the former’s natural killer (NK) cell research by pushing shares (NASDAQ:NKTX) up 166%, to close July 10 at $47.90, an increase of $29.90.
Nkarta Therapeutics Inc.'s CEO, Paul Hastings, said while the clever spelling of the company's name puts its natural killer cell platform at the fore, he is also prompted more often than not to have to spell it out, just to make sure there's no mistake. Still, he added, the occasional hotel bill is sent to Encarta instead of Nkarta.