Nektar, Bristol combo drug shows signs of tumor reduction in bladder cancer patients

Nektar Therapeutics said on Friday some patients with advanced bladder cancer treated with a combination of its experimental treatment and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's immunotherapy, Opdivo, showed signs of tumor reduction in an early-stage study. Of the 27 patients with urothelial cancer, 19 percent showed complete response after being treated with the combo therapy using Nektar's NKTR-214, according to data, which was presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco. The disease, which can infect any part of the urinary tract including the renal pelvis and the bladder, is the sixth most common type of cancer in the United States, the company said.