Nkarta Inc.'s stock experienced a significant rally on Tuesday, with a 28% surge in late morning trading, reaching a price of $1.89 per share. This robust recovery offsets a year-to-date decline of 69% and marks a bounce back from a 52-week low of $1.28.
The catalyst behind this surge was the FDA's approval of NKX019, Nkarta's engineered natural killer cell therapy for refractory lupus nephritis. The green light from the regulatory body has paved the way for Nkarta to proceed with an open-label, dose-escalation clinical trial, serving to assess the safety and efficacy of NKX019.
Lupus nephritis is a significant health concern in the U.S., affecting approximately 40% of the estimated 200,000 systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Around 30% of these patients are at risk of progressing to fatal end-stage kidney disease, which necessitates either dialysis or a kidney transplant. The approval and subsequent trials of NKX019 could potentially offer new treatment options for this patient population.
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