Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) will host an Investor and Analyst R&D Day for its institutional investors and research analysts on Monday, April 16, 2012 from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET in New York City. The meeting will focus on Nektar's continued progress with its technology platform, its proprietary and partnered clinical drug candidates, and its research pipeline.  Expert medical and scientific leaders in the fields of pain and oncology will be featured speakers at the meeting.

A live webcast of the Investor and Analyst R&D Day can be accessed by visiting the investor relations section of Nektar's website at http://www.nektar.com.  A replay will also be available for 30 days following the event.

Expert medical speakers and panelists will include:

• Pain management:
  • Jeff Gudin, MD, Clinical Instructor of Anesthesiology at Mt. Sinai University School of Medicine and Director of Pain and Palliative Care at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center
  • Steve Passik, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
  • Richard Rauck, MD, Head of the Carolinas Pain Institute and Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine
  • Sidney Schnoll, MD, PhD, Vice President of Risk Management Services at Pinney Associates
  • Lynn Webster, MD, Medical Director and Founder of Lifetree Clinical Research and President-Elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
• Oncology:
  • Ahmad Awada, MD, PhD, Head of the Medical Oncology Clinic at Institut Jules Bordet
  • Edith A. Perez, MD, Deputy Director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Group Vice Chair of Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, and Serene M. and Frances C. Durling Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic
  • Prof. Dr. Ignace Vergote, Chairman, Leuven Cancer Institute and Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Gynaecologic Oncology at Catholic University of Leuven

About Nektar
Nektar Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics based on its PEGylation and advanced polymer conjugation technology platforms.  Nektar has a robust R&D pipeline of potentially high-value therapeutics in oncology, pain and other therapeutic areas. In the area of pain, Nektar has an exclusive worldwide license agreement with AstraZeneca for naloxegol (NKTR-118), an investigational drug candidate, which is being evaluated in Phase 3 clinical studies as a once- daily, oral tablet for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation.  This agreement also includes NKTR-119, an earlier stage development program that is a co-formulation of naloxegol and an opioid.  NKTR-181, a novel mu-opioid analgesic in development to treat chronic pain, has completed Phase 1 development and is being prepared for a Phase 2 study.  NKTR-192, a novel mu-opioid analgesic in development to treat acute pain is in Phase 1 clinical development.  In oncology, NKTR-102 is being evaluated in a Phase 3 clinical study for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and in Phase 2 studies for the treatment of ovarian and colorectal cancers.

Nektar's technology has enabled eight approved products in the U.S. or Europe through partnerships with leading biopharmaceutical companies, including Affymax's OMONTYS® for anemia, UCB's Cimzia® for Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, Roche's PEGASYS® for hepatitis C and Amgen's Neulasta® for neutropenia.  Additional development-stage products that leverage Nektar's proprietary technology platform include Baxter's BAX 855, a long-acting PEGylated rFVIII program, which is in Phase 1 clinical development.

Nektar is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional operations in Huntsville, Alabama and Hyderabad, India.  Further information about the company and its drug development programs and capabilities may be found online at http://www.nektar.com.

CONTACT:  Jennifer Ruddock of Nektar Therapeutics, +1-650-283-6253, jruddock@nektar.com

SOURCE Nektar Therapeutics