Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Your first question comes from the line of Jonathan Aschoff with Brean Murray.
Jonathan Aschoff - Brean Murray
Hi guys. I was wondering if you could shed light actually on another company. Namely why would Savient alter the manufacturing process between the manufacturing of clinical trial material. And it's being your late submission. Basically I was wondering why they would change the amount of PEG? I mean, did they have like variability issues that prompted such a last minute change?
Howard Robin
Jonathan I'm going to let Bharatt Chowrira our Chief Operating Officer handle that question.
Bharatt Chowrira
Thanks, Jonathan. We don't quite know the details, obviously, regarding the decision making process at Savient regarding the manufacturing processes, but all I can comment on is that we have had significant experience in manufacturing PEGylation and PEGylated protein products for a number of our partners.
We have nine products in the market, as you know that our PEGylated proteins that use Nektar technology and we have built this expertise over a number of years. And it's not trivial, as you can imagine to go from a research scale or a clinical scale of PEGylation to a commercial scale of manufacturing.
So, there is a lot of know-how and expertise that goes into that. So, we have a good track record on that. So, not sure exactly what happened with Savient, but I can tell you that Nektar is one of the leaders in this area of making PEGylated proteins and we have the expertise to do that.
Jonathan Aschoff - Brean Murray
Thanks, Bharatt. I was wondering if I could ask something about, Nektar 118. basically as it relates to Sucampo were your potential partners for 118, the ones you are quite down the road with. Did they really think that Sucampo was much of a competitor and they were maybe holding out for that Phase 3 result or was it really (inaudible) thought, was kind of a foregone conclusion?
Bharatt Chowrira
Well, look I mean these drugs work by very, very different mechanisms. And as I said earlier, we are dealing directly with the issues that cause opioid induced constipation. The effect of the opioid paralyzing the bowel. Now the Sucampo product causes a lot more fluid that collects in the bowel and that might have some benefit, but that's a very, very different mechanism and it's sort of a secondary approach to dealing with the problem. Our approach with Nektar 118 is to antagonize the morphine and restore normal bowel movements and I think that's the significant difference here and I think the partners greatly appreciate that.
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