Nektar Therapeutics wins US$90M jury award in Lilly licence case
The Sept. 24 verdict awards US$90 million plus interest the court will determine; post-trial proceedings and a possible appeal remain.
Adrian Kessler
A US$90 million jury award favoured Nektar Therapeutics NASDAQNKTR on Sept. 24 after jurors found Eli Lilly and Company NYSELLY breached a duty of good faith under their former rezpegaldesleukin licence, Nektar's filing says. The Sept. 25 filing says the US$90 million award carries interest to be determined by the District Court and remains subject to post-trial proceedings; any resulting judgment may be appealed.
Nektar filed its complaint in August 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and the jury trial began Sept. 8, 2026. The filing describes allegations of both breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Its report of the verdict specifies a finding on the implied covenant.
Nektar is a San Francisco clinical-stage drug developer advancing immune therapies for atopic dermatitis and alopecia areata.
Nektar shares fell 3.91 per cent to US$57.06 as of 4 p.m. EDT on Sept. 25 in Nasdaq trading, its NASDAQNKTR quote showed. The close was below the Sept. 24 price of US$59.38 shown on that quote, so the initial court win did not produce a gain in Friday's regular session.
Interest And Court Proceedings Remain
Reuters reported from court filings on Sept. 25 that Nektar had sought US$1 billion in damages. The US$90 million jury award equals nine per cent of that request, before interest. Lilly told Reuters that the jury had confirmed it used commercially reasonable efforts to develop rezpeg and awarded only a small fraction of Nektar's demand.
"The jury’s verdict remains subject to post-trial proceedings, and any resulting judgment may be subject to appeal," Nektar said in its Sept. 25 filing.
Cash and marketable securities stood at US$1,023.4 million on June 30, according to Nektar's second-quarter results. That was up from US$245.8 million on Dec. 31, 2025. The June balance predates the September verdict and excludes the jury award. The company said the June balance would fund operations into the third quarter of 2028, beyond the initial Phase 3 readouts it expected in mid-2028.
Nektar's Sept. 25 Form 8-K does not state how interest will be calculated or give a date for collection. It also contains no revised spending plan tied to the award.
Rezpeg Faces Established Treatments
Nektar's August release said it had started the first two ZENITH AD Phase 3 studies for atopic dermatitis in July 2026. Its program separates patients without previous biologic or systemic JAK inhibitor treatment from patients who have received those medicines, using randomized, placebo-controlled studies. Nektar plans a registrational alopecia areata study in early 2027 and targets an initial biologics application for rezpeg in 2029.
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In atopic dermatitis, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NASDAQREGN is a listed comparator whose Dupixent product site lists moderate-to-severe eczema among its approved uses. Regeneron shares closed at US$788.04 as of 4 p.m. EDT on Sept. 25 on Nasdaq, according to its NASDAQREGN quote. Lilly shares closed at US$1,183.46 as of 4:03 p.m. EDT on Sept. 25 on the NYSE, its NYSELLY quote showed.
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Nektar is scheduled to present REZOLVE-AD maintenance results and REZOLVE-AA findings at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology congress on Oct. 1, according to its August release. The presentations will give investors the next detailed look at response durability before Nektar moves further into pivotal testing.
