Nkarta (NKTX) TD Cowen 46th Annual Health Care Conference summary

Company overview and clinical focus

• Focused on developing allogeneic, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell therapies for autoimmune diseases, with two main clinical trials: Ntrust-1 (lupus nephritis) and Ntrust-2 (basket study in scleroderma, myositis, vasculitis).

• Two investigator-sponsored trials (ISTs) are ongoing in systemic lupus erythematosus and myasthenia gravis.

• Planning to provide data updates from both main studies within the year, aiming for proof of concept and progression to pivotal trials.

Advantages and clinical strategy of NK cell therapy

• NK cell therapies are accessible, off-the-shelf, and can be administered without apheresis, with a favorable safety profile and no observed cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity in autoimmune trials.

• The goal is to enable outpatient administration, expanding access beyond major centers to community and rural clinics.

• NK cells are short-lived, allowing for immediate B-cell depletion and immune reset, which is ideal for autoimmune indications.

Dosing regimen and lymphodepletion

• Current dosing involves escalating from 3 billion to 12 billion total cells over three doses (4 billion per dose), with lymphodepletion using fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (Flu/Cy) now harmonized across trials.

• NK cells do not expand significantly in vivo, so the administered dose is the therapeutic dose; multiple doses within a week maximize efficacy.

• Full lymphodepletion with Flu/Cy is necessary for deep B-cell depletion and durable remission, based on both internal data and external studies.