SAN DIEGO AND CULVER CITY, CA – March 18, 2019 – NantKwest (Nasdaq:NK), a leading clinical-stage, natural killer cell based therapeutics company, today announced that the company’s Chairman & CEO, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong will be giving a keynote address at the Innate Killer Summit in San Diego on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
Dr. Soon-Shiong’s keynote address will provide a vision of next generation NK cell therapies and feature a review of translational R&D activities, state-of-the-art manufacturing requirements, along with clinical progress.
“Over a few short years, the cell therapy industry has made significant progress with remarkable patient responses to therapy being seen in a few select cancer indications. While encouraging, a significant need still exists for the majority of cancer types where existing cell therapies have not been shown to be effective,“ said Dr. Soon-Shiong. “Natural killer cells have potent cancer cell killing capabilities, yet and are often overlooked as the immune system’s first line of defense against cancer and other foreign invaders. Without questions, cancer patients deserve better treatment options and I welcome the opportunity to present my vision for next generation NK cell therapies at the Summit.”
Conference Details:
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Presentation Title: Charting a Path to Next Generation Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapies
Presenter: Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, Chairman & CEO
Time: 8:30 AM
Dr. Soon-Shiong presentation will be posted on the NantKwest website and will be available for 30 days following the Keynote. For more information regarding NantKwest, please visit www.nantkwest.com.
For more event information, please visit: https://innate-killer.com/
About NantKwest
NantKwest, a member of the NantWorks ecosystem of companies, is an innovative clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the power of the innate immune system by using the natural killer cell to treat cancer and virally induced infectious diseases.
NantKwest is uniquely positioned to implement precision cancer medicine, with the potential to change the current paradigm of cancer care. Natural Killer (NK) cells are a safeguard in the human body designed to recognize and detect cells under stress due to cancer or viral infection. NantKwest’s “off-the-shelf” activated NK cell platform is designed to destroy cancer and virally infected cells from the body. The safety of our NK cells as well as their activity against a broad range of cancers has been tested in phase I clinical trials in Canada and Europe as well as in multiple phase I and II clinical trials in the United States. In addition to being a universal cell-based therapy that does not require individualized patient sourcing or matching, our NK cell products have been largely administered in the outpatient setting as an “off-the-shelf” living drug.
With the capacity to grow active killer cells as a living cancer therapy, our NK cells have been designed to induce cell death against cancers and virally infected cells by several mechanisms, including: innate killing, whereby all of our NK platforms recognize the stress proteins typically found on cancer cells, which, upon binding, release toxic granules to immediately kill their targets; antibody-mediated killing with our haNK® platform, which are NK cells engineered to express antibody receptors that can bind to therapeutic antibody products, thereby enhancing the cancer cell killing effect of that antibody; and Chimeric Antigen Receptor directed killing using the taNK® platform, which includes NK cells engineered to incorporate chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to target tumor-specific antigens found on the surface of cancer cells. All three modes of killing (innate, antibody-mediated, and CAR directed killing) are employed by our t-haNK™ platform, which is an innovative combination of our aNK, haNK® and taNK® platforms in a single product.
Our haNK®, and t-haNK™ platforms have been designed to address certain limitations of CAR T-cell therapy including the capability to infuse cell therapy in an outpatient setting which allows for potential reduction of risk for serious cytokine storms and protracted serious adverse events. In Phase I and II clinical trials in patients with late stage cancer, our NK cells have been administered as an investigational outpatient infusion safely with greater than 300 infusions to date at a dose of 2 billion cells per infusion.
By leveraging an integrated and extensive genomics and transcriptomics discovery and development engine, together with a pipeline of multiple, clinical-stage, immuno-oncology programs, we believe NantKwest is uniquely positioned to be the premier immunotherapy company and transform medicine by delivering living drugs in a bag and bringing novel NK cell-based therapies to routine clinical care.
NK-92, aNK, haNK, taNK, and t-haNK are trademarks of NantKwest, Inc.
About NantCell
NantCell is a privately held immunotherapy company with one of the broadest portfolio of biological molecules spanning albumin-linked chemotherapeutic, peptides, fusion proteins, cytokines, monoclonal antibodies, adenovirus and yeast vaccine therapies.
This platform of technologies has enabled NantCell to achieve one of the most comprehensive late stage clinical pipelines of an integrated platform of immunotherapy technologies addressing both the innate (activated macrophage and natural killer cell) and the adaptive immune system (dendritic, CD4 and CD8 killer T cells).
The pipeline constitutes over 40 immunological assets with 13 first in human immunotherapy molecules in active clinical trials.
Currently the company is planning the enrollment in 2019 of patients in late stage trials with 3 molecules across 17 indications in solid and liquid tumors.
In the field of oncology, NantCell’s goal is to employ a broad portfolio of biological molecules that will enable it to activate the endogenous NK, CD8+ T cell and develop a T cell memory cancer vaccine to combat multiple tumor types without the use of high-dose chemotherapy.
In the field of infectious disease, NantCell’s goal is to develop vaccine therapy to treat and prevent diseases including HIV, Influenza, Zika, and Ebola.
Celgene was the initial strategic investor in NantCell in 2016. A second round crossover funding in December 2018 brought Celgene’s investment to $105M in NantCell. In March 2019 NantCell further expanded the crossover funding round with a $30M investment from a sovereign wealth fund.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning or implying the Company will be successful in improving the treatment of cancer. Risks and uncertainties related to this endeavor include, but are not limited to, obtaining FDA approval of our NK cells as well as other therapeutics as part of the NANT Cancer Vaccine platform as a cancer treatment.
Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, these forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
These and other risks regarding our business are described in detail in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update these statements except as may be required by law.
Media Contact:
Jen Hodson
562-397-3639
jhodson@nantworks.com
