
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An indication stands outdoors a Bristol Myers Squibb facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., Could 20, 2021. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
(Reuters) – Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:) stated on Thursday it had stopped all trials involving its key most cancers drug following its failure in a number of research, dragging the drug developer’s shares down 23% in after-market buying and selling.
The trials that Nektar stopped included these involving a mix of its drug bempegaldesleukin with Bristol Myers (NYSE:) Squibb Co’s most cancers drug Opdivo as effectively Merck & Co Inc’s most cancers drug Keytruda.
Nektar and Bristol Myers have been testing the mixture remedy by way of an settlement signed in 2020, whereas the one with Keytruda concerned a partnership entered with privately owned SFJ Prescription drugs final 12 months.
Nektar and Bristol Myers final month discontinued two late-stage research testing their mixture remedy in melanoma sufferers after one of many trials failed to satisfy its foremost objectives.
On Thursday, Nektar and Bristol stated the mixture of medication failed to satisfy objectives in one other late-stage examine in sufferers with renal cell carcinoma, in addition to in a examine testing the remedy in urothelial carcinoma, a kind of bladder most cancers.
With Nektar now halting a number of trials of its key drug, the corporate stated it expects to announce a brand new strategic plan to rein in spending to satisfy its money runway objectives.