Bayer HealthCare and Nektar Therapeutics have agreed to develop and commercialize NKTR-061 (inhaled amikacin). The therapy would utilize Nektar’s proprietary pulmonary technology to deliver a specially-formulated amikacin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic, for inhalation deep into the lung for adjunctive treatment of Gram-negative pneumonias.

Subsequent to the successful clinical and regulatory development of the product, Bayer HealthCare and Nektar have agreed to a co-promotion of the product in the United States and to share profits.
Currently, NKTR-061 is being studied in Phase 2 trials for the adjunctive therapy of ventilated patients with hospital-acquired, Gram-negative pneumonias. Increasingly, multi-drug resistant, Gram-negative bacteria have magnified the problem of hospital-acquired infection.

Gram-negative pneumonias are commonly seen in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy, the elderly, and patients undergoing major surgical procedures, aspiration, long hospital stays, and prolonged mechanical ventilation.

This collaboration is Bayer HealthCare’s second with Nektar. In 2005, Bayer and Nektar agreed to collaborate on the joint development of inhaled ciprofloxacin as a potential dry powder therapy for treating pseudomonal infections in patients with cystic fibrosis.