At this time a year ago, investors saw billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong’s biotech company ImmunityBio Inc. as a moonshot that would make them rich.
Shares of ImmunityBio, which develops treatments for cancer and other diseases, soared by more than 200% in the span of weeks in early 2021, ahead of its merger with another Soon-Shiong company, NantKwest. Around the same time, its Covid-19 vaccine, which Soon-Shiong has said can address future mutations of the virus, was making its way through early clinical trials.
The company’s star has faded since then. And with it, so has Soon-Shiong’s fortune.