Nkarta, Inc. (NKTX)

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 and six months ended June 30, 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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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 cont

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

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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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 l

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]