Nektar Therapeutics Reports Financial

Nektar Therapeutics Reports Financial

for the Third Quarter of 2019

SAN FRANCISCO, November 6, 2019 - Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq:

NKTR) today reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019.

Cash and investments in marketable securities at September 30, 2019

were approximately $1.7 billion as compared to $1.9 billion at December 31, 2018.

"We continue to make steady progress with our diverse portfolio

of immuno-oncology and immunology programs," said Howard W. Robin, President and CEO of Nektar. "With our partner Bristol-Myers

Squibb, we are conducting registrational trials evaluating the combination of bempegaldesleukin with nivolumab in melanoma, urothelial

cancer and renal cell carcinoma. We are also working collaboratively with BMS to finalize the next set of registrational studies.

This weekend at the SITC Annual Meeting, we are excited to present an 18-month follow-up for patients with metastatic melanoma

enrolled in our PIVOT-02 study. This follows the recent announcement of our Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the doublet which

was granted by FDA in August for patients with previously untreated metastatic melanoma. For NKTR-358, we now have three

separate Phase 1b clinical trials ongoing in lupus, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis with our partner Eli Lilly, with plans to add

an additional autoimmune indication to the development program in 2020. And importantly, we initiated our first clinical

trial for NKTR-255, our novel IL-15 agonist, in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma."

Revenue in the third quarter of 2019 was $29.2 million as compared

to $27.8 million in the third quarter of 2018. Year-to-date revenue for 2019 was $80.8 million as compared to $1.15

billion in the first nine months of 2018. Revenue was higher in the third quarter of 2019 as compared to the same period in

2018 primarily due to non-cash royalty revenue and an increase in product sales. Revenue was lower in the first nine months of

2019 as compared to the same period in 2018 primarily because of the recognition of $1.06 billion of license revenue from the Bristol-Myers

Squibb collaboration agreement in the second quarter of 2018.

Total operating costs and expenses in the third quarter

of 2019 were $128.0 million as compared to $126.4 million in the third quarter of 2018. Total operating costs and expenses

in the first nine months of 2019 were $411.2 million as compared to $365.3 million in the same period

of 2018. Total operating costs and expenses increased marginally in the third quarter of 2019 as compared to the third

quarter of 2018 due to a decrease in research and development (R&D) expense, offset by an increase in general and

administrative (G&A) expense. Total operating costs and expenses increased in the first nine months of 2019 as compared

to the same period in 2018 due to increases in both R&D and G&A expense.

R&D expense in the third quarter of 2019 was $99.0 million as

compared to $102.9 million for the third quarter of 2018. For the first nine months of 2019, R&D expense was $324.2 million as

compared to $290.7 million in the first nine months of 2018. R&D expense was lower in the third quarter of 2019 as

compared to the same period in 2018 due to decreased expense for the bempegaldesleukin program. R&D expense was higher in

the first nine months as compared to the same period in 2018 primarily because of expenses for our pipeline programs, including

the continued development of bempegaldesleukin in Phase 2 and registrational studies and related manufacturing costs, costs related

to Phase 1 clinical studies of NKTR-358 and IND-enabling activities for NKTR-255.

G&A expense was $24.0 million in the third quarter of 2019 as

compared to $18.7 million in the third quarter of 2018. G&A expense in the first nine months of 2019 was $71.6 million as

compared to $57.7 million in the first nine months of 2018. G&A expense was higher in the third quarter and

first nine months of 2019 as compared to the same periods in 2018 due to costs related to commercialization readiness activities

for NKTR-181 and bempegaldesleukin, and increased non-cash stock-based compensation.

Net loss in the third quarter of 2019 was $98.8 million or $0.56

basic and diluted loss per share as compared to net loss of $96.1 million or $0.56 basic and diluted loss per share in the third

quarter of 2018. Net loss in the first nine months of 2019 was $327.2 million or $1.87 basic and diluted loss per share as compared

to net income of $779.5 million or $4.34 diluted income per share in the first nine months of 2018.

Third Quarter 2019 and

Recent Business Highlights

The company also announced upcoming presentations at the following

scientific congresses:

2019 Society for Immunotherapy and Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting,

National Harbor, MD:

ACR 2019 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting, Atlanta,

The Promise of Interleukin-2 Therapy 2019, Paris, France:

11th Annual PEGs Europe, Lisbon, Portugal:

Melanoma Bridge 2019, Naples, Italy:

61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting

& Exposition, Orlando, FL:

Conference Call to Discuss First Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Nektar management will host a conference call to review the results

beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time/2:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Wednesday, November 6, 2019.

This press release and a Webcast of the conference call can be accessed

through a link that is posted on the home page and Investors section of the Nektar website: https://ir.nektar.com/. The web broadcast

of the conference call will be available for replay through Monday, December 9, 2019.

To access the conference call, follow these instructions:

881-2183 (U.S.); (970) 315-0453 (international)

Conference ID: 3079832

(Nektar Therapeutics is the host)

In the event that any non-GAAP financial measure is discussed on

the conference call that is not described in the press release, or explained on the conference call, related information will be

made available on the Investors page at the Nektar website as soon as practical after the conclusion of the conference call.

Nektar Therapeutics is a research-based, development-stage biopharmaceutical

company whose mission is to discover and develop innovative medicines to address the unmet medical needs of patients. Our R&D

pipeline of new investigational medicines includes treatments for cancer, autoimmune disease and chronic pain. We leverage Nektar's

proprietary and proven chemistry platform in the discovery and design of our new therapeutic candidates. Nektar is headquartered

in San Francisco, California, with additional operations in Huntsville, Alabama and Hyderabad, India. Further information about

the company and its drug development programs and capabilities may be found online at http://www.nektar.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains uncertain or forward-looking statements

which can be identified by words such as: "advance," "plan," "finalizing," "design," "evaluate,"

"promise," "potential," "continue," "may," "will" and similar references to future

periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding the finalization of a joint

development plan to study bempegaldesleukin ("bempeg"), the potential therapeutic benefits of our investigational products

(including bempeg, NKTR-358 and NKTR-255) and future plans to clinically study our investigational products in one or more particular

indications, and the results of clinical trials. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future

performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to inherent uncertainties,

risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results

may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements and you should not rely on such statements. Important

factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include:

(i) the timing of the commencement or end of clinical studies and the availability of clinical data may be delayed or unsuccessful

due to regulatory delays, slower than anticipated patient enrollment, manufacturing challenges, changing standards of care, evolving

regulatory requirements, clinical trial design, clinical outcomes, delays caused by our collaboration partners, and enrollment

competition; (ii) scientific discovery of new medical breakthroughs is an inherently uncertain process and the future success of

applying our technology platform to drug candidates (such as bempeg, NKTR-358, and NKTR-255) is therefore highly uncertain and

unpredictable and one or more of these programs may fail; (iii) patents may not issue from our patent applications for our drug

candidates, patents that have issued may not be enforceable, or additional intellectual property licenses from third parties may

be required; and (iv) certain other important risks and uncertainties set forth in Nektar's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed

with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 9, 2019. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is

based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation

to update any forward-looking statement.

Jennifer Ruddock of Nektar Therapeutics