Hapoalim Securities Initiates Coverage on Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) with a Buy; Ongoing Programs to Help Drive Share Price

October 30, 2009 7:49 AM EDT

Hapoalim Securities initiates coverage on Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) with a Buy rating and 12-month price target of $14.

Hapoalim analyst says, "Nektar's management has done a tremendous job turning the company around after the failure of Exubera (its inhaled insulin program, partnered with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) (Not Covered). Nektar has transformed from a company essentially selling a commodity, pegylation ingredients, to a company that has created and monetized an extremely deep pipeline. Nektar has already inked two major deals in the past year, selling its inhaled antibiotics platform to Novartis (NYSE: NVS) (Not Covered) for $118 million and licensing NKTR-118 & 119 to AsztraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) (Not Covered) for $125 million upfront and $1.5 billion in potential milestones. We expect Nektar to partner its oncology drug (NKTR-102, pegylated irinotecan) in 2010 and for that deal to get similar economics to that Nektar received for 118 & 119. NKTR-102 also has three ongoing solid tumor trials expected to provide data over the next nine months that we think will drive upside for Nektar shares prior to the partnering of the program."

To see more analyst ratings on NKTR Click Here.

Nektar Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, develops various drug products and product candidates using its proprietary drug delivery technologies.

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