CHICAGO, June 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Nektar Therapeutics
(Nasdaq:
NKTR) today announced positive results from a subpopulation of
patients in a Phase 2 clinical study evaluating single-agent
NKTR-102 in women with platinum-resistant/refractory ovarian
cancer.  A total of 33 women in the study with prior
Doxil® (pegylated liposomal doxorubicin or PLD) treatment were
evaluable for response rate using either RECIST 1.0 criteria
(response by tumor imaging) or Gynecologic Cancer InterGroup (GCIG)
criteria, which is a combination of RECIST and/or ovarian cancer
biomarker (CA-125) criteria.(1)  Confirmed and unconfirmed
objective response rates using RECIST were 25 percent (4/16) and 29
percent (4/14) for the q14d and q21d dose schedules, respectively.
 Confirmed objective response rates using RECIST were 19
percent (3/16) and 21 percent (3/14) for each dose schedule,
respectively.  GCIG (confirmed and unconfirmed) response rates
were 50 percent (8/16) in the once every 14 days (q14d) dose
schedule and 35 percent (6/17) for the once every 21 days (q21d)
dose schedule.  Confirmed objective GCIG response rates were
38 percent (6/16) and 35 percent (6/17) in the q14d and q21d dose
schedules, respectively.

Median progression-free survival for all 33 patients in the
subpopulation previously treated with PLD was 5.4 months and median
overall survival was 13.9 months.  The median duration of
confirmed response was 4.2 months in the q14d schedule and 4.4
months in the q21d schedule.

“NKTR-102 exhibits an exceptionally high response rate and long
median survival compared to what would be expected in this group of
heavily pre-treated women with platinum-resistant and refractory
ovarian cancer,” said Dr. Agustin Garcia, Associate Professor of
Clinical Medicine at USC Norris Comprehensive Center.  “Women
whose cancer has progressed following trea

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