NKTR-255

NKTR-255

NKTR-255 is an investigational IL‐15 receptor agonist designed to boost the immune system’s natural ability to fight cancer. NKTR-255 increases the proliferation and survival of cancer-killing natural killer (NK) cells and memory CD8+ T cells. NKTR-255 engages the entire IL-15 receptor complex (IL‐15Rα/IL‐15Rβγ) to enhance the formation of long-term immunological memory, which may lead to sustained antitumor immune response.

NKTR-255 is specifically engineered using Nektar’s expertise in polymer chemistry to mimic the natural biological activity of the body’s own IL-15, resulting in optimal activation of the IL-15 pathway. NKTR-255 is uniquely designed to overcome the challenges of recombinant IL-15, which has to be given in high doses due to rapid clearance from the body, limiting its utility due to toxicity and lack of convenience and use.

NKTR-255 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 study in patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and R/R multiple myeloma (MM) and a Phase 1b/2 trial in combination with ERBITUX^® for the treatment of R/R colorectal cancer (CRC) and R/R squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).

Pipeline
 

References

1.    Messaoudene M., et al., (2017) Patient’s Natural Killer Cells in the Era of Targeted Therapies: Role for Tumor Killers. Front. Immunol. 8:683.

2.    Farnault, L., et al., Hematological Malignancies Escape from NK Cell Innate Immune Surveillance: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications. Clinical and Developmental Immunology Volume 2012, Article ID 421702, 8 pages

3.    Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer 2017 5(Suppl 2):87; P332.

4.    Miyazaki T., et al., NKTR-255, a polymer-conjugated IL-15 enhances anti-tumor NK cell responses and synergizes with monoclonal antibodies to provide long-term survival in human lymphoma model. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the AACR; 2019. Abstract 3265.