Date: 2015-06-02
Type of information: Clinical research agreement
Compound: NKTR-214
Company: Nektar Therapeutics (USA - CA) The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA - TX)
Therapeutic area:
Type agreement: clinical research
Action mechanism: cytokine/proteine/immunotherapy product. NKTR-214 is a CD122-biased immune-stimulatory cytokine, which is designed to stimulate the patient's own immune system to eliminate cancer cells. CD122, which is also known as the Interleukin-2 receptor beta subunit, is a key signaling receptor that is known to increase the proliferation of CD8-positive effector T cells, and these CD8-positive T cells comprise a key component of the tumor infiltrating lymphocytes that provide cell-mediated anti-tumor effects. By biasing activation to the CD122 receptor, NKTR-214 enhances CD8-positive T cells (tumor-killing cells) in the tumor. In preclinical studies, a single dose of NKTR-214 resulted in an approximate 400-fold AUC exposure within the tumor compared with an equivalent dose of aldesleukin, an existing IL-2 therapy. This increase potentially enables, for the first time, an antibody-like dosing regimen for a cytokine. In dosing studies in non-human primates, there was no evidence of low blood pressure or vascular leak syndrome with NKTR-214 at predicted clinical therapeutic doses.
Disease:
Details: * On June 2, 2015, Nektar Therapeutics and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced a research collaboration that includes a phase 1-2 clinical study to evaluate NKTR-214, a CD122-biased cytokine designed to preferentially stimulate production of CD8-positive T cells. The agreement covers a Phase 1/2 study to evaluate NKTR-214 in a variety of tumor types as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies, including PD-1 pathway inhibitors. Nektar and MD Anderson expect to initiate the first dose-escalation clinical study later this year. The two organizations will also conduct translational research to identify predictive biomarkers that can be used in the future development of NKTR-214. NKTR-214 is currently completing final IND-enabling studies and is expected to begin clinical testing in the second half of 2015.
Financial terms:
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