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 The drug, NKTR-102, provided a 2.1 month improvement in median
overall survival over patients on chemotherapy in the trial, but the
effect was not statistically significant, the company said.
The company's stock fell about 16 percent in extended trade.
Patients in the study either received the drug or a single
chemotherapy agent. It enrolled 852 women with locally recurrent or
metastatic breast cancer who previously had been treated with
anthracycline, taxane and capecitabine and had progressed following
treatment.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death
among women, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. This
year, an estimated 207,000 women will be diagnosed with the cancer
and over 39,000 women will die from the disease in the United
States.
Nektar is exploring potential paths forward for NKTR-102 in
metastatic breast cancer with regulatory agencies, it said on
Tuesday.
The drug is a long-acting topoisomerase I-inhibitor designed to
concentrate in tumor tissue, provide sustained tumor suppression
throughout the entire chemotherapy cycle, and to minimize
toxicities.
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It is also being tested in several other cancers.
Nektar's stock closed at $14.13 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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