SAN CARLOS, Calif., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nektar Therapeutics today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2009. Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments at December 31, 2009 increased to $396.2 million as compared to $379.0 million at the end of 2008.
Total operating costs and expenses in the fourth quarter of 2009 declined by 37% to $44.5 million, compared to $70.8 million in the fourth quarter 2008, excluding a $69.6 million gain on sale of pulmonary assets. For the full year 2009, total operating costs and expenses declined 31% to $167.1 million as compared to $242.4 million for the full year 2008, excluding the $69.6 million pulmonary sale gain.
"2009 was a transformative year for Nektar Therapeutics. Impressive Phase 2 data for NKTR-118 provided clinical validation of our advanced polymer conjugate platform with small molecules and led to a groundbreaking partnership with AstraZeneca," said Howard W. Robin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nektar. "We begin this year in an extremely strong position to execute against our objectives, with a solid balance sheet and a deep pipeline of programs in oncology and pain."
Conference Call to Discuss Year End 2009 Financial Results
A conference call to review results will be held today, Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 2 PM Pacific Time.
Howard Robin, president and chief executive officer, and John Nicholson, chief financial officer, will host a conference call beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)/2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) on Tuesday, March 2, 2010.
About Nektar
Nektar has created a robust pipeline of potentially high-value therapeutics to address unmet medical needs by leveraging and expanding its technology platforms to improve and enable molecules. In addition to the releasable polymer technology, Nektar is the first company to create a permanent small molecule-polymer conjugate with enhanced oral bioavailability and restricted entry into the CNS. Nektar is currently conducting clinical and preclinical programs in oncology, pain and other therapeutic areas. Nektar recently entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with AstraZeneca for its oral NKTR-118 program to treat opioid-induced constipation and its NKTR-119 program for the treatment of pain without constipation side effects. NKTR-102 is being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical studies for the treatment of ovarian, breast and colorectal cancers. NKTR-105 is in a Phase 1 clinical study in cancer patients with refractory solid tumors.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views regarding the progress and potential of Nektar's pipeline of proprietary drug candidates, the value and potential of the Nektar's technology platform, and the value and potential of certain of Nektar's collaborations with third parties. These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to: (i) Nektar's proprietary product candidates and those of its collaboration partners are in various stages of clinical development and the risk of failure is high and can unexpectedly occur at any stage of development prior to regulatory approval for numerous reasons including, without limitation, safety and efficacy findings even after initial preclinical and clinical results have been positive; (ii) the timing or success of the commencement or end of clinical trials and commercial launch of partnered products may be delayed or unsuccessful due to slower than anticipated patient enrollment, drug manufacturing challenges, changing standards of care, clinical trial design, clinical outcomes, or delay or failure in obtaining regulatory approval in one or more important markets; (iii) Nektar's patent applications for its proprietary or partner product candidates may not issue, patents that have issued may not be enforceable, or intellectual property licenses from third parties may be required in the future; (iv) the outcome of any future intellectual property or other litigation related to Nektar's proprietary product candidates or complex commercial agreements; (v) if Nektar is unable to establish and maintain collaboration partnerships on attractive commercial terms, our business, results of operations and financial condition could suffer; and (vi) certain other important risks and uncertainties set forth in Nektar's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 filed on November 5, 2009, the Current Report on Form 8-K filed today, and the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 to be filed on or about March 2, 2010. Actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Nektar undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
CONTACT: Nektar Investor Inquiries, Jennifer Ruddock of Nektar
Therapeutics, +1-650-631-4954; or Susan Noonan of SA Noonan Communications,
LLC, +1-212-966-3650, or Nektar Media Inquiries, Karen Bergman of BCC
Partners, +1-650-575-1509, or Michelle Corral of BCC Partners,
+1-415-794-8662, all for Nektar Therapeutics
Web site: http://www.nektar.com/
