ImmunityBio’s BCG Agreement Puts Monday’s Trading in Focus
ImmunityBio Inc. shares will react Monday to news of a fresh bladder-cancer supply agreement. The company said Saturday it now has exclusive U.S. rights to develop, import and sell the Tokyo-172 BCG strain from Japan BCG Laboratory. ImmunityBio’s main drug Anktiva is already approved to be used with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, or BCG, for some non-muscle invasive bladder cancers, meaning cancers that haven’t spread into the bladder wall. BCG was first developed as a tuberculosis vaccine but is also given in the bladder to kickstart the immune system against tumors. ImmunityBio said its new Japan deal could bring a second possible U.S. supply of BCG.