Nektar Plummets on Concerns Over Cancer-Drug Trial Results

Nektar Therapeutics lost a third of its value in Monday trading after response rates in melanoma and kidney cancer patients decreased in a mid-stage trial of the company’s cancer drug in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Opdivo. “I do think it will improve with time, but it’s hard to not be nervous about that,” said Brad Loncar, founder of Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy exchange-traded fund, which holds Nektar shares. San Francisco-based Nektar sought to assure investors that responses will get better as patients added in the second part of the study stay on the treatment longer.