Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar Therapeutics' (Nasdaq: NKTR) President and Chief Executive Officer, Howard W. Robin, is scheduled to present at the upcoming 31st Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco at the Westin St. Francis Hotel on Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. Pacific time.

The presentation will be accessible via a Webcast through a link posted on the Investor Relations, Events Calendar section of the Nektar website: http://www.nektar.com. This Webcast will be available for replay until February 10, 2013.

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.  In its proprietary pain pipeline, Nektar is developing NKTR-181, a novel mu-opioid analgesic candidate for chronic pain conditions, which is in Phase 2 development in osteoarthritis patients with chronic knee pain.  NKTR-192, a novel mu-opioid analgesic in development to treat acute pain is in Phase 1 clinical development.  In oncology, etirinotecan pegol (NKTR-102) is being evaluated in a Phase 3 clinical study (the BEACON study) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and is also 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 has completed Phase 1/2 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.

Jennifer Ruddock of Nektar Therapeutics, +1-415-482-5585

SOURCE Nektar Therapeutics