ImmunityBio Announces Collaboration with BeiGene on Confirmatory Ph 3 Trial of ANKTIVA and PD-1 Checkpoint Inhibitor Combination in NSCLC

“The challenge oncologists face in the next five years is how to manage the many patients who do not respond to CPI therapy after an initial response,” said Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Founder, Executive Chairman and Global Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of ImmunityBio. “Currently, options are limited for these second- and third-line patients with NSCLC whose cancer continues to progress on CPIs. The finding that these ‘cold’ tumors, which have evaded T cells, can now be rendered ‘hot’ through the activation of natural killer cells with ANKTIVA, is exciting. To our knowledge, ANKTIVA is the first approved cytokine to address low white cell count (lymphopenia), which occurs following chemo-immunotherapy and radiotherapy. On the basis of ANKTIVA’s mechanism of action of proliferating T cells as well as NK cells, ANKTIVA has the potential to serve as the foundational cytokine to address loss of activity in the multiple tumors in which CPIs are approved.”