San Francisco-based Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NKTR]]) has gotten $20 million from a unit of Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo in exchange for European rights to an experimental cancer drug called etirinotecan pegol (Onzeald). Nektar is developing the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer whose tumors have spread to the brain, and will file an approval application in Europe this month. Nektar could get another $60 million in downstream payments from Daiichi if the drug hits certain regulatory and sales targets.
Author: Ben Fidler
Ben is former Xconomy Deputy Editor, Biotechnology. He is a seasoned business journalist that comes to Xconomy after a nine-year stint at The Deal, where he covered corporate transactions in industries ranging from biotech to auto parts and gaming. Most recently, Ben was The Deal’s senior healthcare writer, focusing on acquisitions, venture financings, IPOs, partnerships and industry trends in the pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics and med tech spaces. Ben wrote features on creative biotech financing models, analyses of middle market and large cap buyouts, spin-offs and restructurings, and enterprise pieces on legal issues such as pay-for-delay agreements and the Affordable Care Act. Before switching to the healthcare beat, Ben was The Deal's senior bankruptcy reporter, covering the restructurings of the Texas Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, GM, Delphi, Trump Entertainment Resorts and Blockbuster, among others. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in English from Binghamton University.
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