NKTR

Nektar Therapeutics

A biopharmaceutical company that uses a technology called PEGylation—attaching polymer chains to drugs so they dissolve better and last longer in the body—and now focuses on therapies for immune and inflammatory diseases. It began in 1990 as Inhale Therapeutic Systems, a firm known for inhaled drug delivery, and took the name Nektar in 2003 to signal a broader mission. The name plays on "nectar," a sweet nod for a company whose famous early product was the inhaled insulin Exubera.