Nektar's NKTR-102 suppresses tumors in mice

USA-based Nektar Therapeutics presented strong preclinical data on its proprietary product candidate, NKTR-102 (PEG-irinotecan), which is under development for the treatment of solid tumors, at the 14th annual European Cancer Conference, in Barcelona, Spain. The agent is a PEGylated form of irinotecan created using Nektar's small-molecule PEGylation technology platform.

According to Dan Von Hoff, director of the Clinical Translational Research Division at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona, USA, "the results show that NKTR-102 demonstrated statistically-significant dose-related suppression of tumor growth in an irinotecan-resistant mouse xenograft model. Further, NKTR-102 displays extended and unique pharmacokinetics which results in greater and sustained exposure to both irinotecan and its active metabolite."

In the study, a single intravenous dose of NKTR-102 on days zero, four and eight in tumor-bearing mice resulted in substantially suppressed tumor growth in a statistically-significant dose-related manner. NKTR-102 inhibited tumor growth 94% at the highest dose of 90mg/kg on day 50. In addition, tumor regression was observed with NKTR-102 at the same dose level. There was no significant decrease in tumor growth or regression from equivalent doses of irinotecan, the firm noted.