Home » Employment News » Nektar to lay off 500 jobs following cancer drug failure

Nektar to lay off 500 jobs following cancer drug failure

By Nagasunder in Employment News, posted April 26, 2022

Nektar Therapeutics will lay off roughly 70 percent of its workforce, or more than 500 people, after halting the development of its key cancer drug earlier this month.

After failing to meet the primary goal in a number of studies, the company halted all clinical trials of the drug, bempegaldesleukin, as well as those with Bristol Myers Squibb Co's most cancers drug Opdivo.

The layoffs are expected to cost between $150 million and $160 million, with the majority of the cost recorded in the second quarter.

Its chief medical officer and the chief commercial officer would additionally step down.

Shares of the corporate had been 3 percent down in prolonged buying and selling.

Nektar stated that the restructuring would help ensure that it has enough capital to fund the development of medicine that it considers "most impactful" to its future.

These include NKTR-358, an experimental treatment for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases being developed in collaboration with Eli Lilly, and NKTR-255, which is being studied in clinical trials in patients with head and neck and colorectal cancers.

The company expects to end the year with approximately $440 million to $450 million in cash and investments and no debt.

Source: NewIndreview

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