Nkarta Names New President to Drive NK Cell Therapies

By Bobby Samwell • Tuesday, July 16 08:05 • Permanent Link

Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ: NKTX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered natural killer (NK) cell therapies, has announced significant changes to its leadership team in a move aimed at accelerating the development and commercialization of pioneering NK cell therapies.

Nadir Mahmood, Ph.D., has been appointed as the President of Nkarta, joining the company from his previous role as the Chief Executive Officer of Rezo Therapeutics. Dr. Mahmood's appointment is expected to drive the strategic focus, operational excellence, and overall business and technical success at Nkarta, particularly as the company embarks on groundbreaking clinical trials and expands its footprint in multiple autoimmune disease settings.

In addition to the appointment of Dr. Mahmood, David R. Shook, M.D., has been promoted to Chief Medical Officer and Head of Research and Development, reflecting his newly-designated oversight of the R&D organization.

The company also announced that James Trager, Ph.D., Nkarta’s former Chief Scientific Officer, has transitioned to a special advisory role due to personal family and health reasons.

Nkarta recently initiated the NTRUST-1, a multi-center clinical trial of NKX019 in lupus nephritis, and received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its second investigational new drug (IND) application for NKX019 in autoimmune disease, paving the way for the NTRUST-2, a multi-center clinical trial evaluating NKX019 for the treatment of systemic sclerosis (SSc, scleroderma), idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM, myositis), and ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV).

The company expects to announce preliminary data from the NTRUST-1 and NTRUST-2 clinical trials in 2025.

NKX019 is an allogeneic, cryopreserved, off-the-shelf immunotherapy candidate that uses NK cells derived from the peripheral blood of healthy adult donors. It is engineered with a humanized CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) for enhanced cell targeting and a proprietary, membrane-bound form of interleukin-15 (IL-15) for greater persistence and activity without exogenous cytokine support.

Nkarta is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing the development of allogeneic, off-the-shelf, on-demand NK cell therapies, with the aim of broad access in the outpatient treatment setting. Today the company's shares have moved 7.8% to a price of $7.02. For the full picture, make sure to review Nkarta's 8-K report.

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