Nektar lifted by positive atopic dermatitis data

US drug developer Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) saw its shares rise 9% to $55.66 following release of new data from the ongoing REZOLVE-AD Phase IIb study of rezpegaldesleukin, an interleukin (IL)-2 pathway agonist and regulatory T-cell (Treg) proliferator, at the 2025 . European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress in Paris, France.

In the Phase IIb study, rezpegaldesleukin achieved statistical significance on the primary endpoint of mean improvement in Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) at week 16 over baseline for all rezpegaldesleukin arms versus placebo. Statistical significance at week 16 was also achieved for key secondary endpoints measuring disease reduction in patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis, including EASI-75, EASI-90, Itch Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Validated Investigator Global Assessment for Atopic Dermatitis (vIGA-AD) and Body Surface Area (BSA).

"These data from REZOLVE-AD presented today show a rapid onset of treatment effect for both clinician-assessed and patient-reported outcomes following the first few doses of rezpegaldesleukin," Prof Jonathan Silverberg, Professor of Dermatology at the George Washington University School of Medicine, notiing:"In addition, for the first time, we observe a deepening of clinical effect for patients with extended dosing of investigational therapy beyond 16 weeks, with a strengthening of absolute EASI reduction, along with higher EASI-75 and vIGA 0/1 response rates following 24 weeks of treatment. These results build on the body of data generated to-date for rezpegaldesleukin that show the advantage of this novel, broad-based Treg mechanism over other novel mechanisms in development to treat atopic dermatitis."