Nkarta, Inc. (NKTX)

CIK: 0001787400. SIC: 2834 Pharmaceutical Preparations. Latest 10-K as of: 2026-03-25.

SIC breadcrumb: Manufacturing > Chemicals And Allied Products > SIC 2834 Pharmaceutical Preparations

SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1787400. Latest filing source: 0001787400-26-000006.

Selected Fundamentals

Financials

Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-03-25. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001787400.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.

Flow metrics use full-year FY periods from 10-K/10-K/A filings; balance-sheet metrics use FY-end instants. Free cash flow = operating cash flow - capital expenditures. Missing metrics are omitted rather than fabricated.

Ratios

ROE and ROA use period-end equity/assets. Liabilities / equity uses total liabilities divided by stockholders' equity. Current ratio uses current assets divided by current liabilities when both are reported.

Financial Charts

Quarterly

Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-05-12. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001787400.json.

Flow metrics use discrete quarter-length periods from 10-Q/10-Q/A filings. Q4 revenue and net income are derived only when annual FY and nine-month YTD facts exist for the same fiscal year; derived Q4 values are labeled. EPS Q4 is not derived.

Quarterly Charts

Macro Cross-References

• CPIAUCSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average
• UNRATE - Unemployment Rate
• FEDFUNDS - Federal Funds Effective Rate
• CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
• DFEDTARU - Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit
• DFEDTARL - Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit
• DGS3MO - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 3-Month Constant Maturity
• DGS2 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 2-Year Constant Maturity
• DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
• DGS30 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity
• T10Y2Y - 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity
• CPILFESL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy
• CPIUFDSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food
• CPIENGSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Energy
• CUSR0000SAH1 - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Shelter
• PCEPI - Personal Consumption Expenditures: Chain-type Price Index
• PCEPILFE - Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy: Chain-type Price Index
• PPIACO - Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
• T10YIE - 10-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate
• U6RATE - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons
• PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
• CIVPART - Labor Force Participation Rate
• EMRATIO - Employment-Population Ratio
• UNEMPLOY - Unemployed
• CE16OV - Employment Level
• ICSA - Initial Claims
• JTSJOL - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
• JTSQUR - Quits: Total Nonfarm
• GDPC1 - Real Gross Domestic Product
• A191RL1Q225SBEA - Real Gross Domestic Product: Percent Change from Preceding Period
• INDPRO - Industrial Production: Total Index
• TCU - Capacity Utilization: Total Index
• HOUST - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units
• PERMIT - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units
• RSAFS - Advance Retail Sales: Retail Trade
• PCE - Personal Consumption Expenditures
• DSPIC96 - Real Disposable Personal Income
• PSAVERT - Personal Saving Rate
• M2SL - M2
• BOPGSTB - U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Balance
• MSPUS - Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States
• HSN1F - New One Family Houses Sold: United States
• RHORUSQ156N - Homeownership Rate in the United States
• TTLCONS - Total Construction Spending: Total Construction in the United States
• RRVRUSQ156N - Rental Vacancy Rate in the United States
• TOTALSL - Total Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
• REVOLSL - Revolving Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
• DRCCLACBS - Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks
• GDP - Gross Domestic Product
• GPDI - Gross Private Domestic Investment
• GCE - Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment
• PCEC - Personal Consumption Expenditures
• NETEXP - Net Exports of Goods and Services
• GFDEBTN - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
• GFDEGDQ188S - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
• FYFSD - Federal Surplus or Deficit
• FGRECPT - Federal Government Current Receipts
• FGEXPND - Federal Government: Current Expenditures
• MANEMP - All Employees, Manufacturing
• USCONS - All Employees, Construction
• USTRADE - All Employees, Retail Trade
• USFIRE - All Employees, Financial Activities
• USGOVT - All Employees, Government
• AWHAETP - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private
• DGORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
• NEWORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
• BUSINV - Total Business Inventories
• EXPGS - Exports of Goods and Services
• IMPGS - Imports of Goods and Services
• IR - Import Price Index (End Use): All Commodities
• PPIFIS - Producer Price Index by Commodity: Final Demand

Latest quarter (10-Q)

Latest 10-Q source: 0001787400-26-000013.

Extracted structurally from real Item 2 body heading to real Item 3/4 boundary. Confidence: high. Filing date: 2026-05-12. Report date: 2026-03-31.

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our financial statements and related notes included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and with the audited financial statements and the related notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 25, 2026 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business and related financing. The discussion and analysis below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties set forth in the section titled “Risk Factors” under Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which may cause our actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” above. Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Company,” “Nkarta, Inc.,” “we,” “us,” or “our” refer to Nkarta, Inc. We do not have any subsidiaries.

Overview

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of allogeneic, off-the-shelf engineered natural killer ("NK") cell therapies. Our lead pipeline program is NKX019, a chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer ("CAR NK") product candidate targeting the CD19 antigen for the treatment of patients with autoimmune diseases. Our CAR NK platform enables an on-demand, off-the-shelf approach involving scaled manufacturing to broaden patient access. We have developed proprietary technologies designed to generate an abundant supply of NK cells, increase NK cell recognition of target antigens, and enhance NK cell fitness to support scalable, off the shelf administration. NKX019 is allogeneic, which means it is produced using cells from a different person than the patient(s) being treated, and it is produced in quantity, then frozen and therefore available for treating patients without delay, unlike autologous cell therapies, which are derived from a patient’s own cells and must be manufactured as needed for each patient. We believe that engineered NK cells have the potential to be effective and accessible therapies for autoimmune diseases and other diseases, be well tolerated, and avoid some of the toxicities observed with other cell therapies.

Our modular engineering platform builds on the distinctive biology of NK cells and their role in eradicating aberrant and pathologically transformed cells. Our process starts with mature NK cells derived from healthy donors. We build on the intrinsic ability of these immune cells to identify and kill transformed cells with cell engineering to further enhance their activity. This engineering involves inducing the expression of a chimeric antigen receptor ("CAR") on the surface of an NK cell to enable the cell to recognize specific proteins or antigens that are present on the surface of target cells. Our engineered CAR NK cells generally consist of an NK cell engineered with a targeting receptor, OX40 costimulatory domain, CD3ζ(zeta) signaling moiety, and a membrane-bound form of the cytokine IL(interleukin)-15 ("mbIL-15").

Our Ntrust-1 clinical trial ("Ntrust-1") is a multi-center, open-label, dose-escalation Phase 1/2 clinical trial of NKX019 for lupus nephritis ("LN") and primary membranous nephropathy ("pMN"). Our Ntrust-2 clinical trial ("Ntrust-2") is a multi-center, open-label, dose-escalation Phase 1/2 clinical trial of NKX019 for systemic sclerosis ("scleroderma"), idiopathic inflammatory myopathy ("myositis"), antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis ("AAV"), and rheumatoid arthritis ("RA"). In both studies, patients receive lymphodepleting conditioning ("LD") with a combination of fludarabine ("Flu") and cyclophosphamide ("Cy") prior to administration of NKX019, with the option for patients with cytopenias to receive Cy alone as modified LD. NKX019 is also being studied in an investigator-sponsored trial ("IST") at the University of California, Irvine in patients with myasthenia gravis ("MG") and in an IST at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus ("SLE").

In November 2025, we announced that deep B-cell depletion was observed in all patients treated to date who received NKX019 with LD using Flu and Cy versus partial B-cell depletion in patients receiving only Cy. At the same time, we reported the implementation of a streamlined enrollment process that allows participant data from both the Ntrust-1 and Ntrust-2 clinical trials to be reviewed by a combined independent Data Safety Monitoring Board ("iDSMB") to inform dose-escalation decisions. This update followed engagement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") and authorization by the iDSMB to initiate enrollment in the second dose-escalation cohort. In April 2026, we announced that we had reached agreement with the FDA on protocol amendments to both the Ntrust-1 and Ntrust-2 clinical trials designed to enable outpatient administration of NKX019, reducing the required post-dose monitoring period from 24 hours to 2 hours, and to provide the option to re-dose patients, if needed, in both studies. The protocol amendments also provided for the addition of the RA cohort to Ntrust-2 and the removal of geographic monitoring requirements. Subsequent to this announcement, the protocol amendments were submitted to the FDA and institutional review boards ("IRB") and approved by the central IRB.

Since the commencement of our operations in 2015, we have devoted substantially all our resources in support of our product development efforts, hiring personnel, raising capital to support and expand such activities and providing general and administrative support for these operations. We have incurred net operating losses since inception and have not generated any revenue from product sales. In the future, we expect that our operating expenses will significantly increase as we continue to develop and seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates, continue to engage in other research and development activities to expand our pipeline of product candidates, maintain and expand our intellectual property portfolio, maintain and expand our product manufacturing

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capabilities, and ultimately establish a commercial organization. We have funded our operations primarily through the issuance of Company stock and intend to raise additional capital to fund operations until such time that we are able to generate sufficient revenues to cover our operating expenses. We may seek additional funding through the issuance of common stock, including through equity or debt financing or collaborations or partnerships with other companies. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including, among other things, the pace and results of our clinical development efforts for our product candidates. We may not be able to raise additional capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Any failure to raise capital as and when needed would compromise our ability to execute our business plan and may cause us to undertake cost containment measures and/or significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development of some of our programs. We have also incurred increased operating expenses since becoming a public company, which we expect will further increase when we are no longer able to rely on certain “smaller reporting company” exemptions we are afforded as further described below. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year.

Financial Operations Overview

Operating Expenses

Research and Development

Research and development costs consist primarily of costs incurred for the discovery and clinical development of our drug candidates, which include:

•
employee-related expenses, including salaries, related benefits, travel and share-based compensation expenses for employees engaged in research and development functions;

•
expenses incurred in connection with research, laboratory consumables, sponsored research, and preclinical studies;

•
expenses incurred in connection with conducting clinical trials including investigator grants and site payments for time and pass-through expenses and expenses incurred under agreements with CROs, other vendors or central laboratories and service providers engaged to conduct our trials;

•
the cost of consultants engaged in research and development related services;

•
the cost to manufacture drug product candidates for use in our preclinical studies and clinical trials;

•
facilities, depreciation and other expenses, which include allocated expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities, insurance and supplies;

•
costs related to regulatory compliance; and

•
the cost of annual license fees under our third-party licensing agreements.

We typically have various early-stage research and drug discovery projects as well as various product candidates undergoing clinical trials. Our internal resources, employees and infrastructure are generally not directly tied to any one research or drug discovery project and are typically deployed across multiple projects. As such, we do not maintain information regarding the costs incurred for these early-stage research and drug discovery programs on a project-specific basis. As part of cost containment measures undertaken by us, early discovery and preclinical programs have been deprioritized with less personnel and funding allocated to advancing these programs.

We expense research and development costs as they are incurred. Nonrefundable advance payments for goods or services to be received in the future for use in research and development activities are recorded as prepaid expenses. The prepaid amounts are expensed as the related goods are delivered or the services are performed.

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025. The direct external development program expenses reflect external costs attributable to our clinical development candidates and preclinical candidates selected for further development. Such expenses include third-party contract costs relating to manufacturing, clinical trial activities, translational medicine and toxicology activities. The unallocated internal research and development costs include personnel, facility costs, laboratory consumables and discovery and research related activities associated with our pipeline.

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Three Months Ended

March 31,

2026

2025

(in thousands)

Direct external development program expenses:

NKX019

$

7,454

$

4,755

NKX101

25

665

Unallocated internal research and development costs:

Personnel related (including share-based compensation)

7,978

9,430

Others

9,531

9,322

Total research and development costs

$

24,988

$

24,172

Research and development activities are central to our business model. There are numerous factors associated with the successful commercialization of any of our drug candidates, including future trial design and various regulatory requirements, many of which cannot be determined with accuracy at this time based on our stage of development. In addition, future regulatory factors beyond our control may impact our clinical development programs. Drug candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. At this time, we cannot reasonably estimate or know the nature, timing and costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete the preclinical and clinical d

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

Latest 10-K MD&A

Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary. Confidence: high. Filing date: 2026-03-25. Report date: 2025-12-31.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs, and involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and the timing of certain events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included under Part I, Item 1A and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of allogeneic, off-the-shelf engineered natural killer ("NK") cell therapies. Our lead pipeline program is NKX019, a chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer ("CAR NK") product candidate targeting the CD19 antigen for the treatment of patients with autoimmune diseases. Our CAR NK platform enables an on-demand, off-the-shelf approach involving scaled manufacturing to broaden patient access. We have developed proprietary technologies designed to generate an abundant supply of NK cells, increase NK cell recognition of target antigens, and enhance NK cell fitness to support scalable, off the shelf administration. NKX019 is allogeneic, which means it is produced using cells from a different person than the patient(s) being treated, and it is produced in quantity, then frozen and therefore available for treating patients without delay, unlike autologous cell therapies, which are derived from a patient’s own cells and must be manufactured as needed for each patient. We believe that engineered NK cells have the potential to be effective and accessible therapies for autoimmune diseases and other diseases, be well tolerated, and avoid some of the toxicities observed with other cell therapies.

Our modular engineering platform builds on the distinctive biology of NK cells and their role in eradicating aberrant and pathologically transformed cells. Our process starts with mature NK cells derived from healthy donors. We build on the intrinsic ability of these immune cells to identify and kill transformed cells with cell engineering to further enhance their activity. This engineering involves inducing the expression of a chimeric antigen receptor ("CAR") on the surface of an NK cell to enable the cell to recognize specific proteins or antigens that are present on the surface of target cells. Our engineered CAR NK cells generally consist of an NK cell engineered with a targeting receptor, OX40 costimulatory domain, CD3ζ(zeta) signaling moiety, and a membrane-bound form of the cytokine IL(interleukin)-15 ("mbIL-15").

In March 2025, we approved a reduction in workforce as a result of a review of current strategic priorities and resource allocation with the intent to decrease our costs and create a more streamlined organization to support our operations and reprioritized product pipeline.

Our Ntrust-1 clinical trial ("Ntrust-1") is a multi-center, open-label, dose-escalation Phase 1 clinical trial of NKX019 for lupus nephritis ("LN") and primary membranous nephropathy ("pMN"). Our Ntrust-2 clinical trial ("Ntrust-2") is a multi-center, open-label, dose-escalation Phase 1 clinical trial of NKX019 for systemic sclerosis ("scleroderma"), idiopathic inflammatory myopathy ("myositis") and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis ("AAV"). In order to maximize the potential success of both our Ntrust-1 clinical trial and our Ntrust-2 clinical trial, in May 2025, we announced the modification of the lymphodepleting conditioning ("LD") prior to administration of NKX019 to use a combination of fludarabine ("Flu") and cyclophosphamide ("Cy"), with the option for patients with cytopenias to continue to receive Cy alone as modified LD. At that time, we also announced that researchers at the University of California, Irvine initiated an investigator-sponsored trial ("IST") of NKX019 in patients with myasthenia gravis ("MG"). NKX019 is also being studied in an IST at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus ("SLE").

In November 2025, we announced that deep B-cell depletion was observed in all patients treated to date who received NKX019 with LD using Flu and Cy versus partial B-cell depletion in patients receiving only Cy. At the same time, we reported the implementation of a streamlined enrollment process that allows participant data from both the Ntrust-1 and Ntrust-2 clinical trials to be reviewed by a combined independent Data Safety Monitoring Board ("iDSMB") to inform dose-escalation decisions. This update followed engagement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") and authorization by the iDSMB to initiate enrollment in the second dose-escalation cohort.

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Since the commencement of our operations in 2015, we have devoted substantially all our resources in support of our product development efforts, hiring personnel, raising capital to support and expand such activities and providing general and administrative support for these operations. We have incurred net operating losses since inception and have not generated any revenue from product sales. In the future, we expect that our operating expenses will significantly increase as we continue to develop and seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates, continue to engage in other research and development activities to expand our pipeline of product candidates, maintain and expand our intellectual property portfolio, maintain and expand our product manufacturing capabilities, and ultimately establish a commercial organization. We have funded our operations primarily through the issuance of Company stock and intend to raise additional capital to fund operations until such time that we are able to generate sufficient revenues to cover our operating expenses. We may seek additional funding through the issuance of common stock, including through equity or debt financing or collaborations or partnerships with other companies. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including, among other things, the pace and results of our clinical development efforts for our product candidates. We may not be able to raise additional capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Any failure to raise capital as and when needed would compromise our ability to execute our business plan and may cause us to undertake cost containment measures and/or significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development of some of our programs. We have also incurred increased operating expenses since becoming a public company, which we expect will further increase when we are no longer able to rely on certain “smaller reporting company” exemptions we are afforded as further described below. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year.

Financial Operations Overview

Operating Expenses

Research and Development

Research and development costs consist primarily of costs incurred for the discovery and clinical development of our drug candidates, which include:

•
employee-related expenses, including salaries, related benefits, travel and share-based compensation expenses for employees engaged in research and development functions;

•
expenses incurred in connection with research, laboratory consumables, sponsored research, and preclinical studies;

•
expenses incurred in connection with conducting clinical trials including investigator grants and site payments for time and pass-through expenses and expenses incurred under agreements with CROs, other vendors or central laboratories and service providers engaged to conduct our trials;

•
the cost of consultants engaged in research and development related services;

•
the cost to manufacture drug product candidates for use in our preclinical studies and clinical trials;

•
facilities, depreciation and other expenses, which include allocated expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities, insurance and supplies;

•
costs related to regulatory compliance; and

•
the cost of annual license fees under our third-party licensing agreements.

We typically have various early-stage research and drug discovery projects as well as various product candidates undergoing clinical trials. Our internal resources, employees and infrastructure are generally not directly tied to any one research or drug discovery project and are typically deployed across multiple projects. As such, we do not maintain information regarding the costs incurred for these early-stage research and drug discovery programs on a project-specific basis. As part of cost containment measures undertaken by us, early discovery and preclinical programs have been deprioritized with less personnel and funding allocated to advancing these programs.

We expense research and development costs as they are incurred. Nonrefundable advance payments for goods or services to be received in the future for use in research and development activities are recorded as prepaid expenses. The prepaid amounts are expensed as the related goods are delivered or the services are performed.

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. The direct external development program expenses reflect external costs attributable to our clinical development candidates and preclinical candidates selected for further development. Such expenses include third-party contract costs relating to manufacturing, clinical trial activities, translational medicine and toxicology activities. The unallocated internal research and development costs include personnel, facility costs, laboratory consumables and discovery and research related activities associated with our pipeline.

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Year Ended December 31,

2025

2024

Direct external development program expenses:

(in thousands)

NKX019

$

22,146

$

16,215

NKX101

1,156

5,239

Unallocated internal research and development costs:

Personnel related (including share-based compensation)

30,565

39,866

Others

36,562

35,424

Total research and development costs

$

90,429

$

96,744

Research and development activities are central to our business model. There are numerous factors associated with the successful commercialization of any of our drug candidates, including future trial design and various regulatory requirements, many of which cannot be determined with accuracy at this time based on our stage of development. In addition, future regulatory factors beyond our control may impact our clinical development programs. Drug candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. At this time, we cannot reasonably estimate or know the nature, timing and costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete the preclinical and clinical development of any of our drug candidates. However, we expect that our research and development expenses will increase substantially in connection with our planned preclinical and clinical development activities in the future, including as a result of Ntrust-1, our clinical trial of NKX019 for the treatment of LN and pMN, Ntrust-2, our clinical trial of NKX019 for the treatment of scleroderma, myositis, and AAV, and the ISTs for the treatment of MG and SLE.

The successful development of our drug candidates is highly uncertain. A change in the outcome of any of a number of variables with respect to the development of our drug candidates may significantly impact the costs and timing associated with the development of our drug candidates. A discussion of the risks and uncertainties that we face in the development and commercialization of our drug candidates can be found under Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We may never succeed in obtaining regulatory approval for any of our drug candidates.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and employee-related costs, including share-based compensation, for personnel in executive, finance and other administrative functions. Other significant costs include legal fees relating to intellectual property and corporate matters, professional fees for accounting and consulting services and facility-related costs.

While we continue to closely manage our expenditures, including following our cost containment measures, we still expect our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future in support of increased research and development activities and to reflect increased costs associated with operating as a public company. These anticipated increased costs will include increased expenses related to audit, legal, regulatory and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, insurance premiums and investor relations costs.

Other Income, net

Interest Income

Interest income consists of interest earned on our cash, cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments and adjustments related to amortization of purchase premiums and accretion of discounts of cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments.

Income Taxes

We are subject to corporate U.S. federal and state income taxation. We estimate our income tax provision, including deferred tax assets and liabilities, based on management’s judgment. We record a valuation allowance to reduce our deferred tax assets to the amounts that are more likely than not to be realized. We consider future taxable income, ongoing tax planning strategies and our historical financial performance in assessing the need for a valuation allowance. If we expect to realize deferred tax assets for which we have previously recorded a valuation allowance, we will reduce the valuation allowance in the period in which such determination is first made.

97

We record liabilities related to uncertain tax positions in accordance with the guidance that clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements by prescribing a minimum recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return.

Results of Operations

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the periods indicated (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31,

2025

2024

Change

Operating expenses:

Research and development

90,429

96,744

(6,315

)

General and administrative

31,568

31,450

118

Total operating expenses

121,997

128,194

(6,197

)

Loss from operations

(121,997

)

(128,194

)

6,197

Other income, net:

Interest income

15,494

19,317

(3,823

)

Other income, net

2,419

87

2,332

Total other income, net

17,913

19,404

(1,491

)

Net loss

$

(104,084

)

$

(108,790

)

$

4,706

Research and development expenses

Research and development expenses were $90.4 million and $96.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The decrease of $6.3 million was attributable primarily to the following:

•
a $9.3 million decrease in personnel costs primarily from lower salaries and wages, bonus expense, and share-based compensation expense recognized due to lower headcount as a result of the reduction in force in March 2025;

•
a $0.9 million decrease in other research costs, primarily consisting of research supplies and facility expenses as a result of reduction in headcount;

•
a $1.8 million increase in program costs primarily from higher clinical spending related to NKX019 to support Phase I clinical trials in autoimmune diseases, which were partially offset by lower manufacturing, materials, and clinical expenses related to NKX101 as the program was deprioritized and reduced manufacturing and materials expenses related to NKX019; and

•
a $2.1 million increase in consulting expenses, partially as a result of the reduction in force.

General and administrative expenses

General and administrative expenses were $31.6 million and $31.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The increase of $0.1 million was primarily due to the following:

•
a $4.9 million increase in severance expenses resulting from the March 2025 reduction in force;

•
a $0.8 million increase due to an impairment of right-of-use assets in 2025 and no impairment expense in 2024;

•
a $4.2 million decrease in personnel-related expenses primarily from lower salaries and wages, bonus expense, and share-based compensation expense recognized due to lower headcount as a result of the reduction in force; and

•
a $1.4 million decrease in rent and other facilities expense primarily due to the termination of the lease for one of our suites in July 2025.

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Interest income

Interest income was $15.5 million and $19.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The decrease of $3.8 million was primarily due to lower average investment balances and lower yields in the current period. Interest income includes interest earned from investments, partially offset by amortization of purchase premiums and accretion of discounts of investments.

Other income, net

Other income, net was $2.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 and immaterial for the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase of $2.3 million was primarily due to $1.5 million of recognition of employee retention tax credits received under the CARES Act and $0.8 million from sublease income which commenced in December 2024.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources of Liquidity

As of December 31, 2025, we had cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term and long-term investments of $295.1 million. We estimate that all $265.1 million in net proceeds from our July 2020 initial public offering have been spent. On April 28, 2022, we received $215.3 million in net proceeds, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and other offering expenses, in connection with our secondary offering of our common stock. On March 27, 2024, we received $225.1 million in net proceeds from an underwritten public offering, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and expenses, described further below.

On March 17, 2023, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-3, as amended by the Form S-3/A filed on April 24, 2023 (the "Shelf Registration Statement"), covering the offer and sale from time to time, pursuant to Rule 415 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), of up to $350.0 million in aggregate offering price of shares of the Company’s common stock, shares of the Company’s preferred stock, debt securities, warrants, rights and/or units, including up to $120.0 million in aggregate offering price of shares of the Company’s common stock, shares of the Company’s preferred stock, debt securities, warrants, rights and/or units registered on the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-3 declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on September 2, 2021 (the "Prior Registration Statement") that had not yet been sold. The Shelf Registration Statement was declared effective by the SEC on May 5, 2023.

On March 27, 2024, we completed an underwritten public offering utilizing the Shelf Registration Statement, pursuant to which we sold an aggregate of (i) 21,010,000 shares of common stock at a price of $10.00 per share, and (ii) pre-funded warrants to purchase 3,000,031 shares of common stock at a price of $9.9999 per pre-funded warrant. The pre-funded warrants can be exercised at any time after issuance for an exercise price of $0.0001 per share, subject to certain ownership limitations. As of December 31, 2025, none of the pre-funded warrants have been exercised. We raised $240.1 million in gross proceeds before underwriting discounts, commissions and other expenses of $15.0 million.

We have incurred net losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $648.3 million and anticipate that we will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. We expect to incur substantial expenditures as we develop our product pipeline and advance our drug candidates through clinical development, undergo the regulatory approval process and, if approved, launch commercial activities. Specifically, in the near term we expect to incur substantial expenses relating to initiating and completing our clinical trials, the development and validation of our manufacturing processes, and other development activities.

We will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our long-term development strategy, including the potential initiation of a pivotal stage clinical trial for any or all of our current development programs. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our drug candidates, if ever, we may seek additional funding through the issuance of our common stock, including through equity or debt financing or collaborations or partnerships with other companies. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including the pace and results of our clinical development efforts for our product candidates and other research, development and manufacturing activities, market conditions, and the success of our recent and any future cost-containment measures. We may not be able to raise additional capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back, or discontinue the development and commercialization of our drug candidates or delay our efforts to expand our product pipeline. We may also be required to sell or license to other parties’ rights to develop or commercialize our drug candidates that we would prefer to retain.

99

We believe that our current cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term and long-term investments as of December 31, 2025 will be sufficient to meet our cash needs for at least 12 months following the issuance date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Cash Flows

The following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows for the periods indicated (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31,

2025

2024

Net cash used in operating activities

$

(88,699

)

$

(99,696

)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

100,319

(129,555

)

Net cash provided by financing activities

141

226,084

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

$

11,761

$

(3,167

)

Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2025 of $88.7 million was primarily due to a net loss of $104.1 million, adjusted for a decrease in net change in operating assets and liabilities of $0.4 million, which was offset by an increase in net non-cash charges of $15.8 million. The change in net operating assets and liabilities was primarily due to an increase in prepaid expenses for the maintenance of laboratory equipment and interest receivable, and a decrease in accounts payable, accruals, and operating lease liability. The non-cash charges primarily consisted of stock-based compensation of $8.6 million, depreciation and amortization of $9.2 million, which was offset by investment accretion and amortization of $4.6 million.

Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 of $99.7 million was primarily due to our net loss of $108.8 million, adjusted for a decrease in net change in operating assets and liabilities of $12.2 million, which was offset by an increase in net non-cash charges of $21.3 million. The change in net operating assets and liabilities was primarily due to an increase in prepaid expenses for the maintenance of laboratory equipment and interest receivable, and a decrease in accounts payable, accruals, and operating lease liability. The non-cash charges primarily consisted of stock-based compensation of $16.7 million, depreciation and amortization of $9.2 million, which was offset by investment accretion and amortization of $6.9 million.

Investing Activities

Net cash used by investing activities was $100.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 comprised of the purchase of marketable securities of $238.6 million and the purchase of property and equipment of $1.2 million, partially offset by proceeds from the maturities of marketable securities of $340.1 million.

Net cash used by investing activities was $129.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 comprised of the purchase of marketable securities of $406.4 million and the purchase of property and equipment of $4.4 million, partially offset by proceeds from the maturities of marketable securities of $281.2 million.

Financing Activities

There was immaterial cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Net cash provided by financing activities of $226.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, which primarily consisted of net proceeds from our underwritten public offering of $225.1 million that closed in March 2024.

Funding Requirements

Based upon our current operating plans, we believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents, and investments will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next 12 months from the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. However, our forecast of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could deplete our capital resources sooner than we expect. Additionally, the process of testing therapeutic product candidates in clinical trials is costly, and the timing of progress and expenses in these trials is uncertain.

100

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

•
the type, number, scope, progress, enrollment rate, expansions, results, costs and timing of our clinical trials and preclinical studies for our product candidates or other potential product candidates or indications which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;

•
the outcome, timing and costs of regulatory review of our product candidates;

•
the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing;

•
our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting;

•
the costs associated with the continuation of our preclinical and clinical activities, including as a result of any delays or an increase in development activities;

•
the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities if any product candidate is approved;

•
our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;

•
patients’ willingness or ability to pay out-of-pocket for any approved products in the absence of coverage and/or adequate reimbursement from third-party payors;

•
the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements, including payments required for meeting regulatory and commercial milestones or sales based royalties;

•
the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patent and other intellectual property rights;

•
costs associated with any product candidates, products or technologies that we may in-license or acquire; and

•
our ability to implement cost containment measures, including subleasing portions of our leased corporate office space in South San Francisco.

Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our therapeutic product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance our cash needs through public or private equity, debt financings or other capital sources, including potential collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. There may also be instances where our ability to access a portion of our existing cash, cash equivalents and investments may be threatened due to financial conditions affecting the banking system and financial markets. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, or other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our product candidates, future revenue streams or research programs or may have to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to undertake additional cost-containment measures and/or delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates ourselves.

In March 2025, we approved a reduction in workforce as a result of a review of current strategic priorities and resource allocation and with the intent to decrease our costs and create a more streamlined organization to support our operations and reprioritized product pipeline.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

We lease certain office, laboratory and manufacturing space under non-cancelable operating leases. In addition to rent, our leases are subject to additional variable charges for common area maintenance, property taxes, property insurance and other variable costs. See Note 6 to our financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional detail.

Total undiscounted aggregate future operating lease obligations under all of our operating leases as of December 31, 2025 are $111.8 million.

101

We enter into contracts in the normal course of business for clinical trials, preclinical studies, manufacturing and other services and products for operating purposes. These contracts generally provide for termination following a certain period after notice and therefore we believe that non-cancelable obligations under these agreements are not material.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("U.S. GAAP"). The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities and expenses and the disclosure of assets and liabilities in our financial statements and accompanying notes. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to clinical trial accruals, share-based compensation, pre-funded warrants and impairment of long-lived assets. We base our estimates and assumptions on historical experience, known trends and events, and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. See Note 2 to our financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a summary of significant accounting policies and the effect on our financial statements.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

See Recent Accounting Pronouncements in Note 2 to our financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Indemnification

As permitted under Delaware law and in accordance with our bylaws, we indemnify our officers and directors for certain events or occurrences while the officer or director is or was serving in such capacity. We are also party to indemnification agreements with our officers and directors. We believe the fair value of the indemnification rights and agreements is minimal. Accordingly, we have not recorded any liabilities for these indemnification rights and agreements as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.

Segment Information

We have one business activity and operate in one reportable segment.

Smaller Reporting Company Status

We are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, meaning that the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million and our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million. As a smaller reporting company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our prospectuses and in our periodic reports and proxy statements.