Nektar Raises 2026 Cash Floor to $840 Million as REZPEG Trials Accelerate

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) now expects to end 2026 with more than $840 million in cash and investments, up from its prior forecast of $815 million to $840 million. The biotech reported the raise on its third-quarter 2026 earnings call, where it also laid out an accelerating clinical timeline for its lead drug candidate, rezpegaldesleukin, known as REZPEG.

The company closed the quarter with approximately $953 million in cash and investments and no debt, CFO Linda Rubinstein said. Third-quarter net loss came in at roughly $56 million, or $1.63 per share. Research and development spending totaled about $44 million, general and administrative expenses about $25 million, and non-cash royalty revenue $8.5 million.

For the full year, Nektar guides to R&D expenses of $185 million to $200 million and G&A of approximately $65 million. Rubinstein said research spending will climb in the fourth quarter as the atopic dermatitis trials enroll patients and the alopecia study starts up.

What did Nektar announce on the clinical side?

Three Phase III studies of REZPEG in atopic dermatitis are now underway, and a pivotal alopecia areata study will begin in December — earlier than previously planned. Nektar expects initial top-line data from the atopic dermatitis program in summer 2028 and aims to file a biologics license application (the FDA's approval pathway for biologic medicines) by the end of 2029.

President and CEO Howard Robin said REZPEG is designed to selectively expand regulatory T cells (immune cells that dampen overactive immune responses), an approach the company believes could address multiple inflammatory pathways rather than block a single one. The drug remains investigational; its potential benefits haven't been established in Phase III trials.

The global ZENITH-AD program comprises three studies, each enrolling 510 patients age 12 and older with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis. The studies include both patients who've never received biologics or oral JAK inhibitors (a newer class of anti-inflammatory pills) and those previously treated with them.

Chief Medical Officer Mary Tagliaferri said Nektar changed the second study, ZENITH AD-2, to evaluate REZPEG alongside topical corticosteroids in both previously treated and treatment-naive patients. The change followed regulator feedback in the U.S., Europe and Japan and is intended to support a label covering combination use as well as monotherapy.

Each study runs a 24-week induction period comparing REZPEG with placebo. Patients who hit specified responses move into a 28-week maintenance period testing monthly and quarterly dosing. Enrollment is just beginning; Nektar expects all three studies fully enrolled around January 2028.

What about the follow-up data?

One-year off-treatment follow-up data from the Phase IIb REZOLVE-AD study lands in the first quarter of 2027. Of 125 patients who completed maintenance treatment, 110 received REZPEG and 15 received placebo. Tagliaferri said the results could show whether quarterly dosing — or potentially every six months for deep responders — can maintain disease control after a year of treatment.

The Phase III ZENITH AA study in alopecia areata will enroll roughly 850 patients age 12 and older with severe to very severe disease. Patients receive REZPEG or placebo for 52 weeks, with the primary endpoint measuring the proportion achieving a scalp hair-loss score of 20 or less. Data are expected in 2029. Responders enter a long-term extension randomized to monthly or quarterly dosing; non-responders continue dosing every two weeks. Tagliaferri noted the extension carries no treatment-withdrawal component.

At the EADV conference, Nektar presented Phase II alopecia follow-up data showing 7% of patients treated for 52 weeks had a scalp hair-loss score of 10 or less at end of treatment, rising to 19% six months after treatment stopped.

Nektar also plans a proof-of-concept study in roughly 30 patients with vitiligo, an autoimmune condition causing loss of skin pigmentation, enrolling patients with active non-segmental disease. Final design is still in development, with data expected in late 2027 or early 2028. A separate TrialNet-sponsored Phase II study in new-onset type 1 diabetes is ongoing; six-month data from its first 18-patient cohort should arrive around the end of 2027 or beginning of 2028.

The takeaway: a debt-free balance sheet of $953 million now funds a wider, faster late-stage program than Nektar promised just a quarter ago.