Shares of Culver City-based ImmunityBio Inc. surged yet again late last month to nearly a five-year high as its immunotherapy drug Anktiva won approval for marketing in 30 European countries.
The rally in the stock price continued for several days with the release of a favorable earnings report.
On Feb. 18, the European Commission gave formal approval for Anktiva, which treats certain types of bladder cancer, to be marketed within the 27 member nations of the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
There is a major condition: ImmunityBio must follow-up with trial participants and submit long-term safety and efficacy data to the European Medicines Agency, which in January recommended the commission approve the drug. With this approval, Anktiva is now authorized for sale in 33 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the European Union.
“We have built the broadest global access platform for an immunotherapy in this indication,” Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire founder and executive chairman, and global chief scientific and medical officer for ImmunityBio, said in the announcement.
ImmunityBio shares, which already were on the rise for weeks, surged 42% to $8.54 on the day the European Union approval was announced.
New marketing partnership and distribution subsidiary
In a related move released the following day (Feb. 19), ImmunityBio announced a partnership with North Harrow, U.K.-based pharmaceutical company Accord Healthcare Ltd. to provide Anktiva in the European countries for which it is approved.
Accord will be assigning a team of more than 100 of its sales and marketing professionals to market Anktiva.
“Our partnership with Accord marks a significant step in our European growth strategy and our mission to redefine cancer care,” Richard Adcock, ImmunityBio’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Accord’s scale, oncology leadership, and commercial reach support our goals to broaden patient access to Anktiva and unlock its full commercial potential in Europe.”
ImmunityBio also announced the establishment of a Dublin, Ireland-based subsidiary to support the commercialization and distribution of Anktiva throughout Europe.
Huge revenue jump
Four days later, on Feb. 23, ImmunityBio released its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings report. Last year was the first full year of Anktiva sales and the impact showed on the revenue side. Sales surged 700% last year to roughly $113 million compared with 2024.
Despite this growth, ImmunityBio is still racking up sizable net income losses, even if they were smaller than in 2024. The total net loss last year attributable to shareholders reached $351 million, which was less than the $414 million loss in 2024.
The company is still spending tens of millions of dollars each quarter to ramp up production and marketing of Anktiva, and work on getting approvals for expanded uses.
Revenue figures are expected to pick up substantially this year now that Anktiva has been approved for sale in 30 European countries. This prospect prompted investors to send ImmunityBio shares up another 13% on Feb. 24 to close at $9.83, the highest level since mid-2021.
ImmunityBio shares had surged in January following the company’s announcement of Anktiva’s approval in Saudi Arabia. Also in January, ImmunityBio said it had held what it regarded as a successful meeting with the Food and Drug Administration on resubmitting its drug application for a common form of bladder cancer with papillary tumors.
The FDA initially rejected this use for Anktiva one year ago.
