Shares of ImmunityBio (IBRX) gained more than 3% in pre-market trading on Friday, after the pharmaceutical firm announced on Friday the completion of key manufacturing engineering programs supporting the production of its natural killer (NK) cell therapy platform.
The programs established a process that can generate up to 5 billion NK cells from a single leukapheresis collection, producing 8 to 10 therapeutic doses within about 12 days.
Essentially, the milestone allows the biotech company to generate billions of NK cells from a single donor collection, potentially expanding the number of therapeutic doses available for cancer patients.
“The ability to generate up to 5 billion highly pure NK cells from a single apheresis collection, yielding up to 8-10 therapeutic doses within 12 days, opens the possibility of creating the ‘World Bank of Natural Killer Cells’, with NK cells able to be universally donated to any patient without HLA matching,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, Founder, Executive Chairman and Global Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of ImmunityBio.
ImmunityBio also completed a Phase 1 study combining its memory cytokine-enhanced NK cells (M-ceNK) therapy with ANKTIVA, which demonstrated safety in patients with relapsed or refractory tumors. Across the programs, 74 participants were enrolled, and researchers reported no serious adverse events related to the procedures or treatment.
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