ImmunityBio reports US$48.7M product revenue as quarterly loss widens
Nine-month product revenue rose 92 per cent, while cash, equivalents and marketable securities stood at US$334.3 million at Sept. 30.
Adrian Kessler
Quarterly product revenue rose 53 per cent to US$48.7 million as ImmunityBio, Inc. NASDAQIBRX reported its third-quarter results on Monday. Its net loss attributable to common stockholders widened to US$184.6 million from US$67.3 million a year earlier.
For the first nine months of 2026, net product revenue reached US$143.6 million, up 92 per cent from the corresponding period. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totalled US$334.3 million at Sept. 30, while a further application to expand Anktiva's use remains planned for the fourth quarter.
ImmunityBio is a commercial-stage cancer immunotherapy company based in Culver City, Calif., with Anktiva as its marketed treatment.
The shares closed at US$8.64 on Nasdaq at 4 p.m. EST on Nov. 6, according to NASDAQIBRX, before Monday's financial release.
Expenses Rose Alongside Product Revenue
The year-over-year sales increase did not extend to a sequential gain. Third-quarter revenue was below the US$50.7 million reported for the second quarter in the company's Aug. 4 announcement.
Research and development spending reached US$71.5 million in the September quarter, compared with US$51.2 million a year earlier. ImmunityBio attributed the increase mainly to clinical trial expenses and personnel costs, partly offset by lower manufacturing expenses.
Selling, general and administrative expenses rose to US$54 million from US$36.3 million over the same period. Higher professional services, personnel and commercial expenses contributed to the increase.
Other expense, net reached US$106.6 million in the third quarter of 2026, compared with US$11.7 million a year earlier. The company cited non-cash fair-value changes involving a related-party convertible note, warrants and other derivatives, alongside higher interest expense on its revenue interest liability.
"We continue to see more physicians prescribing ANKTIVA to multiple patients and growing physician interest in our chemotherapy-free approach in the U.S. and Europe," ImmunityBio chief executive Richard Adcock said in the release.
Expanded Label Reaches Papillary-Only Disease
The FDA expanded Anktiva's indication on Oct. 14 to include adults with BCG-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer with high-grade papillary-only tumours. The treatment is given with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, and the decision followed the end of the reported quarter.
The agency said efficacy previously demonstrated in patients with carcinoma in situ could be extrapolated to high-grade papillary disease because of overlapping clinical and non-clinical features. The prescribing information warns that delaying bladder removal can allow metastatic cancer to develop; common adverse reactions include urinary symptoms and urinary tract infection.
In the broader oncology market, Merck & Co., Inc. NYSEMRK reported US$8.6 billion in combined Keytruda and Keytruda Qlex sales on Oct. 29. That represented 6 per cent growth for the September quarter, with earlier-stage bladder cancer among the indications supporting demand.
The iShares Biotechnology ETF NASDAQIBB closed at US$213.63 at 4 p.m. EST on Nov. 6, providing a sector-price reference before Monday's announcements.
ImmunityBio said in its Nov. 9 release that Anktiva was approved or authorized across 35 countries in six regulatory jurisdictions. It reported approval in Israel and initial European commercial sales in the fourth quarter.
Read more: Agenus details first BOT+BAL approvals ahead of Phase 3 start
The separate QUILT-2.005 program concerns patients who have not previously received BCG, rather than the BCG-unresponsive population covered by the October decision. Monday's earnings release repeated the company's report that the trial met its primary endpoint.
Read more: ImmunityBio reports Anktiva endpoint success in BCG-naïve bladder cancer
ImmunityBio plans to submit its supplemental biologics licence application for BCG-naïve disease to the FDA in the fourth quarter of 2026. That filing would seek a further expansion beyond the approved BCG-unresponsive indication.
