IBRX Stock Jumps on Progress in NK Cell Therapy Production
Shares of ImmunityBio IBRX rose more than 7% on Friday after the company announced that it completed two manufacturing engineering programs for its autologous memory cytokine-enhanced natural killer (M-ceNK) cell therapy platform.
The company completed the NK2022 and NK2023 programs, demonstrating that its process for collecting immune cells from blood and converting them into natural killer (NK) cell therapies can be performed safely, consistently and at scale.
ImmunityBio successfully conducted apheresis collections (a procedure that separates and collects specific cells from the blood) in 64 subjects, including healthy donors and cancer patients, with no procedure-related serious adverse events reported. The collected cells were then used to validate the company’s manufacturing process for generating M-ceNK cells.
Per IBRXIBRX--, a single apheresis collection can produce up to 5 billion NK cells, enough to generate eight to 10 treatment doses per patient within 12 days. Among the 64 subjects, the company administered a total of 23 doses to 10 cancer patients, demonstrating successful repeat dosing and cryo-banking of M-ceNK cells without any serious adverse events.
IBRX Stock’s Performance
Shares of the company rose on Friday as investors cheered the above results. The successful completion of the NK2022 and NK2023 programs validates the company’s goal to establish a “World Bank of NK Cells” using cells from healthy donors and cancer patients. The company believes this approach could eventually allow NK cells to be donated broadly to patients without the need for HLA matching.
Year to date, shares of ImmunityBioIBRX-- have skyrocketed more than 300% compared with the industry’s 3% growth.
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ImmunityBio Completes Early-Stage Safety Study on M-ceNK Cells
The company announced that it completed a phase I dose-escalation study evaluating its autologous M-ceNK cells combined with its sole marketed drug Anktiva (nogapendekin alfa inbakicept) in 10 patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors. The cancer types included breast, colon, renal, pancreatic and renal — all in patients treated in the second line or later setting.
ImmunityBio reported no serious adverse events in the study.
IBRX’s Zacks Rank
ImmunityBio currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Key Picks Among Biotech Stocks
Some better-ranked stocks from the sector are ANI Pharmaceuticals ANIP and ALX Oncology Holdings ALXO, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Over the past 60 days, estimates for ANI Pharmaceuticals’ 2026 EPS have increased from $8.14 to $8.72, while the same for 2027 have risen from $9.25 to $10.10. The stock has declined about 11% year to date.
ANI Pharmaceuticals’ earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 22.21%.
Over the past 60 days, ALX Oncology’s 2026 loss per share estimates have narrowed from $1.21 to 88 cents, while the same for 2027 have declined from 99 cents to 60 cents. ALXO shares have rallied over 75% year to date.
ALX Oncology’s earnings missed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average negative surprise being 12.82%.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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