ImmunityBio & NantKwest Sign COVID-19 Joint Development, Manufacturing and Marketing Agreement; ImmunityBio Selected for ‘Operation Warp Speed’ to Develop Novel Adenovirus COVID-19 Vaccine

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NantKwest, Inc. (Nasdaq: NK), a clinical-stage, natural killer cell-based therapeutics company, and ImmunityBio, a privately-held immunotherapy company, today announced ImmunityBio has been selected to participate in Operation Warp Speed, a new national program aiming to provide substantial quantities of safe, effective vaccine for Americans by January 2021. Efforts will focus on the development, testing, and large-scale manufacturing of ImmunityBio’s COVID-19 human adenovirus vaccine (hAd5) candidate. This is the first vaccine designed to deliver both Spike (S) and Nucleocapsid (N) DNA, offering the potential for patients to develop long-lasting immunity to the virus.