ImmunityBio & the Perils of Hope

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It’s funny, isn’t it, how quickly we’ll latch onto good news, especially when it involves a company I, admittedly, had to Google just yesterday? ImmunityBio, Inc. (IBRX +33.80%), apparently develops therapies for cancer and infectious diseases. And this week, they’ve been… thriving. The stock jumped 34% yesterday alone, and is up something like 127% for the week. Which, in the grand scheme of things, feels less like sound investing and more like a collective, desperate plea for a win. I’m not judging, of course. I once spent a regrettable amount of money on a limited-edition porcelain thimble, convinced it would be my ticket to early retirement.

This morning brought news that enrollment for their Anktiva therapy exceeded expectations in a trial for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Which, let’s be honest, isn’t a phrase you hear every day. It means they might be able to submit something to the FDA by year’s end. My aunt Mildred has been battling bladder issues for years, and I immediately texted her the news. She responded with a single question: “Will it make me need less ice?” I didn’t have an answer, and frankly, I doubted ImmunityBio did either.

Then there’s their CAR-NK therapy, which apparently demonstrated 100% disease control in the first four patients with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Four. It’s a statistically… intriguing number. My mother always said, “Never trust a statistic based on fewer than ten subjects.” She was a librarian, so she had strong opinions about data.

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A Week of Unbelievable Optimism

It’s been a cascade of good news, really. One day after announcing preliminary financials (Anktiva sales up over 700% – seriously?), two days after the Saudi Food and Drug Authority gave Anktiva the thumbs-up, three days after positive data on non-small cell lung cancer, and a week after the European Commission took a step towards approval. It’s enough to make a cynic like myself feel… cautiously optimistic. Or maybe just exhausted. I had to explain all this to my dog, Winston, who mostly just blinked and asked for a treat.

The market, naturally, is ecstatic. The $5.3 billion market capitalization doesn’t seem outrageous, given the recent surge. They have around $800 million in cash, which, in the pharmaceutical world, is like having a really good umbrella during a monsoon. It buys you time. It doesn’t necessarily guarantee sunshine. I keep thinking about all the companies that promised the world and then… didn’t. The Theranos of it all. The Juicero.

So, is ImmunityBio a good investment? I honestly have no idea. I’m a writer, not a financial advisor. But it’s certainly a story. A story about hope, and desperation, and the human tendency to see what we want to see. And, frankly, it’s a lot more interesting than that porcelain thimble.

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2026-01-16 21:53