NantKwest Inc. (Nasdaq:NK), a pioneering, next generation,
clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the unique
power of our immune system using natural killer (NK) cells to treat
cancer, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases, announced today
that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program
under which the company may repurchase up to $50 million of its
outstanding common stock.
“Our management team and Board of Directors strongly believe that
NantKwest’s growth prospects and long-term strategy are not reflected in
the company’s current stock price,” said Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong,
NantKwest’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “The stock repurchase
program that was announced today demonstrates our confidence in the
strength of our business, our strong conviction in our long-term growth
prospects and our commitment to delivering shareholder value.”
The stock purchases may be made from time to time in the open market or
in privately negotiated transactions, in compliance with applicable
state and federal securities laws. The timing and amounts of any
purchases will be based on market conditions and other factors,
including price, regulatory requirements and other corporate
considerations, as determined by NantKwest’s management team. The
program does not require the purchase of any minimum number of shares
and may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time without prior
notice. NantKwest expects to finance the purchases with existing cash
balances.
About NantKwest Inc.
NantKwest (Nasdaq:NK) is a pioneering, next generation, clinical-stage
immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the unique power of our
immune system using natural killer (NK) cells to treat cancer,
infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases. NK cells are the body’s
first line of defense due to the innate ability of NK cells to rapidly
identify and destroy cells under stress, such as cancer or
virally-infected cells.
NantKwest’s unique NK cell-based platform, with the capacity to grow
active killer cells as a biological cancer therapy, has been designed to
induce cell death against cancer or infected cells by three different
modes of action: (1) Direct killing using activated NK cells (aNK) that
release toxic granules directly into the cell through cell to cell
contact, (2) Antibody-mediated killing using haNKs, which are NK cells
engineered to incorporate a high affinity receptor that binds to an
administered antibody, enhancing the cancer cell killing effect of that
antibody, and (3) Targeted activated killing using taNKs, which are NK
cells engineered to incorporate chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to
target tumor-specific antigens found on the surface of cancer cells.
The aNK, haNK and taNK platform addresses certain limitations of T cell
therapies including the reduction of risk of serious "cytokine storms"
reported after T cell therapy. As an “off-the-shelf” therapy,
NantKwest's NK cells do not rely on a patient’s own often compromised
immune system. In Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with late stage
cancer, NantKwest's NK cells have been successfully administered as an
outpatient infusion therapy without any reported severe side effects,
even at doses of 10 billion cells.
By leveraging an integrated and extensive genomics and transcriptomics
discovery and development engine, together with a pipeline of multiple,
clinical-stage, immuno-oncology programs that include a Phase 2 trial
for a rare form of melanoma and the planned initiation of a clinical
trial of NK cells targeted to breast cancer, 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. For more
information please visit http://www.nantkwest.com
and follow Dr. Soon-Shiong on Twitter @solvehealthcare.
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