On August 8, 2017 Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 (Press release, Nektar Therapeutics, AUG 8, 2017, View Source [SID1234520199]).

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Cash and investments in marketable securities at June 30, 2017 were $310.7 million as compared to $389.1 million at December 31, 2016. The cash balance does not include the $150 million upfront payment expected from Nektar’s recently announced collaboration with Eli Lilly & Company for the development and commercialization of NKTR-358.

"Nektar has successfully achieved a number of important milestones in 2017," said Howard W. Robin, President and CEO of Nektar. "In July, we announced positive results from the human abuse potential study of NKTR-181, which followed the positive Phase 3 efficacy data earlier in the year. The body of data for NKTR-181 shows that it could be a transformational pain medicine for the treatment of chronic pain and be a key building block in the nation’s fight against the opioid abuse epidemic. Our new collaboration with Lilly for NKTR-358 enables the broad development of this first-in-class resolution therapeutic in multiple autoimmune conditions. Finally, in immuno-oncology, we are pleased to announce that we began dosing patients in the expansion stage of the PIVOT study of NKTR-214 with Bristol’s OPDIVO, which will enroll up to 260 patients in eight target cancer indications."

Revenue in the second quarter of 2017 was $34.6 million as compared to $32.8 million in the second quarter of 2016. Year-to-date revenue for 2017 was $59.3 million as compared to $91.6 million in the first half of 2016. Revenue in the first half of 2016 was higher primarily because of the recognition of $28.0 million received from AstraZeneca for the sublicense of MOVENTIG to Kirin in Europe.

Total operating costs and expenses in the second quarter of 2017 were $85.2 million as compared to $71.1 million in the second quarter of 2016. Total operating costs and expenses in the first half of 2017 were $164.4 million as compared to $139.5 million in the first half of 2016. Total operating costs and expenses increased primarily because of research and development (R&D) expense, which included the completion of Phase 3 clinical studies for NKTR-181.

R&D expense in the second quarter of 2017 was $60.3 million as compared to $52.4 million in the second quarter of 2016. For the first half of 2017, R&D expense was $121.3 million as compared to $101.6 million in the first half of 2016. R&D expense was higher in the second quarter and first half of 2017 as compared to the same periods in 2016 and includes increased expenses for our pipeline programs, including clinical development of NKTR-214 and NKTR-358 and preclinical activities for NKTR-262 and NKTR-255.

General and administrative (G&A) expense was $16.0 million in the second quarter of 2017 as compared to $11.0 million in the second quarter of 2016. Q2 2017 G&A expense includes a $3.3 million charge for a litigation settlement related to a cross-license agreement. G&A expense in the first half of 2017 was $28.0 million as compared to $21.3 million in the first half of 2016.

Net loss in the second quarter of 2017 was $59.9 million or $0.39 loss per share as compared to a net loss of $48.6 million or $0.36 loss per share in the second quarter of 2016. Net loss was higher in Q2 2017 versus Q2 2016 primarily as a result of the litigation settlement expense and the increased R&D expense described above. Net loss in the first half of 2017 was $123.7 million or $0.80 loss per share as compared to a net loss of $68.1 million or $0.50 loss per share in the first half of 2016.

The company also announced the following upcoming presentation:

ESMO 2017 Congress, Madrid, Spain:

Poster 1212TiP: "PIVOT-02: A Phase 1/2, Open-label Multicenter, Dose Escalation and Dose Expansion Study of NKTR-214 and Nivolumab in Patients with Select Locally Advanced or Metastatic Solid Tumor Malignancies.", Diab, A., et al.
Date: September 9, 2017, 13:15 – 14:15 p.m. Central European Summer Time