Nkar­ta drops a can­cer pro­gram, putting au­toim­mune front and cen­ter. Will it pay off?

Nkar­ta hit the brakes on one of its lead pro­grams Thurs­day af­ter­noon, de­pri­or­i­tiz­ing a CAR-NK ther­a­py de­signed to treat an ag­gres­sive form of leukemia af­ter it turned in dis­ap­point­ing Phase 1 da­ta. A pre­cip­i­tous stock drop en­sued, with shares $NK­TX falling 22% Fri­day morn­ing.

But the in­vestor re­ac­tion dif­fered marked­ly from an­a­lysts, who large­ly re­mained op­ti­mistic about Nkar­ta’s plans. That’s be­cause it’s turn­ing most of its at­ten­tion to an area that’s gar­nered a lot of buzz re­cent­ly: cell ther­a­py in au­toim­mune dis­eases.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER