In wake of IL-2 shut­down, Nek­tar lets go of 500+ staffers as it promis­es a turn­around

For years, NK­TR-214 — al­so known as be­m­peg, short for be­m­pe­galdesleukin — was the star of the show at Nek­tar Ther­a­peu­tics, with the promise of tar­get­ing IL-2 that no oth­er im­munother­a­py de­vel­op­er could. The drug in­spired a $3.6 bil­lion deal with Bris­tol My­ers Squibb and hawked the at­ten­tion of an­a­lysts and in­vestors alike.

So as Nek­tar Ther­a­peu­tics pre­pares for a fu­ture with­out it, the changes are dras­tic.

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