ImmunityBio

ImmunityBio

ImmunityBio was formed in 2014 by Patrick Soon-Shiong, the surgeon-entrepreneur who previously built and sold Abraxis BioScience, maker of the cancer drug Abraxane, to Celgene in 2010. The firm's founding thesis was that the first wave of immuno-oncology drugs — PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors — helps only a minority of patients, and that a durable response requires coordinating both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system. Soon-Shiong seeded the company with his own capital and later took it public via a reverse merger in 2020, keeping majority voting control. ImmunityBio's lead clinical programs are built around Anktiva (N-803), an IL-15 superagonist complex designed to stimulate natural killer and CD8+ T-cells. The drug is in late-stage trials for bladder cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer. In April 2024, the FDA approved Anktiva plus BCG for BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer — the company's first commercial product. The firm also operates a portfolio of cell-therapy platforms, including CAR-NK and PD-L1-targeting CAR-T constructs, and runs a manufacturing network in California with facilities capable of cell therapy and large-molecule production. Beyond oncology, ImmunityBio has pursued infectious-disease applications, including a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that received a thumbs-down from the FDA's advisory committee in 2021. The firm is headquartered in Culver City, California, and employs a vertically integrated model where clinical development, manufacturing, and a proprietary delivery device are kept in-house. In April 2024, the FDA approval of Anktiva triggered a $320 million equity raise to fund the commercial launch, drawing on Soon-Shiong's relationship network and existing institutional holders (per public filings, April 2024). Adjacent commercial infrastructure includes a specialty pharmacy partnership with a national provider to manage patient access for the bladder cancer indication. ImmunityBio's distinguishing architecture is its public-market vehicle controlled by a founder who functions as both chief scientific officer and majority shareholder, blurring the line between a single-family biotech bet and an institutional-stage company. Where most family offices limit their life-sciences exposure to fund commitments or passive co-investments, Soon-Shiong has concentrated roughly a decade of effort and over $2 billion in deployed capital into a single pipeline — a governance structure that concentrates both scientific risk and boardroom authority under one person.