(Reuters) – Nektar Therapeutics sued Eli Lilly on Monday, accusing the drugmaker of undermining the prospects for Rezpeg, which Nektar was developing as a treatment for several autoimmune diseases.
The complaint filed in San Francisco federal court charges Lilly with breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, unfair competition and other misconduct. It claims, inter alia, damages and damages.
Lilly did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Nektar separately reported new data Monday from an early-stage trial that tested Rezpeg for treating a type of chronic skin condition called eczema. The company claimed that efficacy data previously generated by Lilly for the drug candidate had been incorrectly calculated.
According to the corrected data, 12 weeks of treatment with the drug at the highest dose reduced the severity of the condition by 83%, compared to 66% previously reported.
Shares of Nektar were up about 60% to 86 cents after the new data.
Nektar regained full rights to the drug earlier this year by breaking a more than five-year partnership with Lilly to develop and potentially commercialize the drug for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic autoimmune disease, and atopic dermatitis.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; editing by Mark Porter and Sriraj Kalluvila)
