Description of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

In these notes to the consolidated financial statements, the terms “ImmunityBio,” “the company,” “the combined company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to ImmunityBio and subsidiaries.

Our Business

We are an integrated clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering, developing, and commercializing next-generation immuno- and cellular therapies that bolster the natural immune system to drive and sustain an immune response. Using our proprietary platforms that amplify both the innate and adaptive branches of the immune system, our teams of clinical, scientific, and manufacturing experts, advance novel therapies and vaccines aimed at defeating urologic and other cancers, as well as infectious diseases. Although such designations may not lead to a faster development process or regulatory review and may not increase the likelihood that a product candidate will receive approval, N-803 (Anktiva), our lead biologic commercial product candidate, has received Breakthrough Therapy and Fast Track designations and is currently under review by the FDA for treatment in combination with BCG of patients with BCG-unresponsive NMIBC with CIS with or without Ta or T1 disease and has a new user fee goal date (PDUFA date) of April 23, 2024.

Our platforms and their associated product candidates are designed to attack cancer and infectious pathogens by activating both the innate immune system, including—NK cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages, as well as—the adaptive immune system comprising—B and T cells,—in an orchestrated manner. The goal of this potentially best-in-class approach is to generate immunogenic cell death thereby eliminating rogue cells from the body whether they are cancerous or virally-infected. Our ultimate goal is to overcome the limitations of current treatments, such as checkpoint inhibitors, and/or reduce the need for standard high-dose chemotherapy in cancer by employing this coordinated approach to establish “immunological memory” that confers long-term benefit for the patient.

Our proprietary platforms for the development of biologic product candidates include: (i) antibody-cytokine fusion proteins, (ii) DNA, RNA, and recombinant protein vaccines, and (iii) cell therapies. These platforms have generated 9 novel therapeutic agents for which clinical trials are either underway or planned in solid and liquid tumors. Specifically, our clinical focus includes bladder, lung, and colorectal cancers and GBM, which are among the most frequent and lethal cancer types, and where there are high failure rates for existing standards of care or no available effective treatment.

Our lead biologic commercial product candidate Anktiva is an IL-15 superagonist antibody-cytokine fusion protein. In May 2022, we announced the submission of a BLA to the FDA for Anktiva in combination with BCG for the treatment of patients with BCG-unresponsive NMIBC with CIS with or without Ta or T1 disease. On May 9, 2023, the FDA delivered a CRL to us regarding the BLA filed in May 2022, indicating that the FDA had determined that it could not approve the original BLA submission in its initial form, and the FDA made recommendations to address the issues raised. The deficiencies in the CRL related to the FDA’s pre-license inspection of the company’s third-party CMOs, among other items. Satisfactory resolution of the observations noted at the pre-license inspection would be required before the BLA could be approved. At the time, the FDA further provided recommendations specific to additional CMC issues and assays to be resolved. The CRL did not request new preclinical studies or Phase III clinical trials to evaluate safety or efficacy. The FDA requested that the company provide updated duration of response data for the efficacy population as identified by the FDA in the company’s resubmission, as well as a safety update.

On October 23, 2023, we announced that we had completed the resubmission of the BLA addressing the issues in the CRL. As part of our resubmission, we provided an update of the duration of response regarding the responders identified by the FDA in the efficacy population for BCG unresponsive subjects with high-risk CIS disease. On October 26, 2023, we announced that the FDA had accepted our BLA resubmission for review and considered it as a complete response to the CRL. The FDA has set a new user fee goal date (PDUFA date) of April 23, 2024. While we believe the BLA resubmission addresses the issues identified in the CRL, there is no guarantee that the FDA will ultimately agree that such issues have been successfully addressed and resolved. It is unclear when the FDA will approve our BLA, if at all.

The Merger

On December 21, 2020, NantKwest and NantCell, Inc. (formerly known as ImmunityBio, Inc., a private company) (NantCell) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the Merger Agreement), pursuant to which NantKwest and NantCell agreed to combine their businesses. The Merger Agreement provided that a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company would merge with and into NantCell (the Merger), with NantCell surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

On March 9, 2021, we completed the Merger pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement. Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger (the Effective Time), each share of NantCell common stock, par value $0.001 per share, issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time, subject to certain exceptions as set forth in the Merger Agreement, was converted automatically using the Exchange Ratio into newly issued shares of Company Common Stock, with cash paid in lieu of any fractional shares. At the Effective Time, each share of the company’s common stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time, remained an issued and outstanding share of the combined company. At the Effective Time, each outstanding option, RSU or warrant to purchase NantCell common stock was converted using the Exchange Ratio into an option, RSU or warrant, respectively, on the same terms and conditions immediately prior to the Effective Time, to purchase shares of Company Common Stock.

Immediately following the Effective Time, the former stockholders of NantCell held approximately 71.5% of the outstanding shares of Company Common Stock and the stockholders of NantKwest as of immediately prior to the Merger held approximately 28.5% of the outstanding shares of Company Common Stock. As a result of the Merger and immediately following the Effective Time, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, our Executive Chairman and Global Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, and his affiliates beneficially owned, in the aggregate, approximately 81.8% of the outstanding shares of Company Common Stock. Following the consummation of the Merger, the symbol for shares of the company’s common stock was changed to “IBRX.”

During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded $13.0 million of costs in connection with the Merger in selling, general and administrative expense, on the consolidated statement of operations, consisting of financial advisory, legal and other professional fees.

Accounting Treatment of the Merger

The Merger represents a business combination pursuant to ASC 805-50, which was accounted for as a transaction between entities under common control as Dr. Soon-Shiong and his affiliates were the controlling stockholders of both the company and NantCell for all of the periods presented in this report. As a result, all of the assets and liabilities of NantCell were combined with ours at their historical carrying amounts on the closing date of the Merger. We recast our prior period financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 to reflect the conveyance of NantCell’s common shares as if the Merger had occurred as of the earliest date of the consolidated financial statements presented. All material intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

The following table provides the impact of the change in reporting entity on our unaudited condensed consolidated statement of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2021 (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended March 31, 2021
	(Unaudited)
	NantCell		NantKwest		Intercompany Eliminations		ImmunityBio, Inc.

Revenue	$	183	$	—	$	(44)	$	139
Operating expenses:
Research and development (including amounts with related parties)	21,509		19,725		(106)		41,128
Selling, general and administrative (including amounts with related parties)	24,382		20,903		(10)		45,275
Loss from operations	(45,708)		(40,628)		72		(86,264)
Other (expense) income, net (including amounts with related parties)	(848)		6,637		—		5,789
Income tax expense	—		(6)		—		(6)
Net loss	$	(46,556)	$	(33,997)	$	72	$	(80,481)