• About Nektar
  • Our Leadership
  • Corporate Giving
  • Locations
  • Contacts
• Pipeline
  • Pipeline Overview
  • Nektar Proprietary Products
  • Nektar Partnered Products
  • Drug Development Platforms
• Partners
  • Nektar Partners
• Investor Relations
  • Press Releases
  • Stock Information
  • Financial Events Calendar
  • Analyst Coverage
  • Annual and Financial Reports
  • Corporate Governance
  • Investor Contacts
  • FAQ
  • Investor Advisory
• Media Room
  • Lead Product Backgrounder
  • Press Releases
  • Press Kit
  • Media Contacts
• Information Center
  • Scientific & Partnering Events
  • Multimedia
  • Library
  • Email Alerts
• Careers
  • Life at Nektar
  • Career Opportunities
  • Recruitment Calendar
  • Summer Internships
  • Benefits
  • Recruiting Information
  • Nektar Employee Foundation

Patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) who need mechanical ventilation, or patients on ventilators who contract ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) have high morbidity and mortality rates, in spite of available broad spectrum intravenous antibiotics to treat these infections. It is estimated that 3.5 million patients in U.S. hospitals are diagnosed with pneumonia each year. Of these cases, up to 250,000 are on mechanical ventilators.

Our Inhaled antibiotics program is designed to treat pneumonias in this ventilated patient population. It aims to:

• Increase drug delivery efficiency and reduce delivery time
• Target the lungs directly with doses of medicine using specialized formulations of liquid antibiotics
• Reduce the possibility of severe systemic side effects commonly found with high doses of intravenous antibiotics

Initially, our first antibiotic product will focus on adjunctive treatment of gram negative pneumonias in patients on and off mechanical ventilation. Gram negative bacilli account for greater than 60% of all HAP and can have a mortality rate of 25-50%. Our proprietary delivery system, obtained with the acquisition of Aerogen in late 2005, is designed to deliver a highly efficient dose of aerosolized antibiotics into a ventilator system. A phase 2 safety and dosing trial for the Inhaled antibiotics product is currently underway.

Product Info: NKTR-061(amikacin inhale)