Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR): A Pain Management Play That You Should Explore

The investment outlook for Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) is not just NKTR-181, but also its pipeline and its technology. NKTR-181 is a Phase 2 drug, but if we use three times peak sales (industry average), then this one product could warrant a market capitalization north of $10 billion if $3.5 billion in peak sales are reached.

However, the company also has a Phase 3 metastatic breast cancer drug (NKTR-102) and a Phase 3 drug for opioid induced constipation (OIC) drug (NKTR-118) with partner AstraZeneca. In total, the company has almost 20 clinical and preclinical programs – but also a technology (PEGylation) that is used in conjunction with various products that generate over $7 billion annually.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) could become one of the greatest investment opportunities in the market. The company produced over $80 million in product licenses last year, but this is only a fraction of what it could create if its opioid market is developed properly. NKTR-181 is already showing unprecedented upside, with opioid pain relief and placebo-like effects. As a collection, Nektar looks to have the entire package, and with a market cap of $1.2 billion, we could see large upside as the company enters these massive markets.

The article A Pain Management Play That You Should Explore originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sherrie Stone.

Sherrie Stone has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Reckitt Benckiser Group. Sherrie is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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