Nektar - New position discussion

Little bio-techs are never more than a small part of my portfolio, and since they usually have little or no revenue except grants and up-front payments from large pharmas, I do actually ignore the financial numbers and invest based on how successful I think the company can be. (And I can always change my mind).

Saul,
So in Nektar’s case, did I infer somewhat correctly that your present thinking is that NKTR-214 could end up being a true game-changer in the treatment of cancer (by way of some of the human body’s own defense/repair mechanisms with cell killing)?

Saul’s comment: The abscopal effect is a phenomenon in the treatment of metastatic cancer, where localized treatment of a base tumor causes not only a shrinking of the treated tumor, but also a shrinking of metastases throughout the body. This is very exciting results!!!

Is the abscopal effect being observed with NKTR-214 a big part of why you re-opened this position? Weren’t you an M.D. before your 1996 retirement?

Thanks,
volfan84

Weren’t you an M.D. before your 1996 retirement?

Yes, but I had nothing to do with cancer treatment, and no specialized knowledge about it. To me it’s common sense:

In preclinical, a single intra-tumoral dose of NKTR-262, administered in combination with NKTR-214, resulted in complete abscopal effects in multiple tumor models.

Read it! What that means is that in their animal studies a single does of Nektar’s two drugs, delivered into the tumor, results in COMPLETE elimination of the main tumor, AND ALL the metastases throughout the body!!! And in multiple different kinds of tumors!

That’s the holy grail of cancer treatment! No one has ever had results like that. Who cares what their finances are? This could be the big one! To me it’s worth a speculation. Sure it’s just in animals so far, but we’re animals too.

Best,

Saul

20 Likes