“Novel protocol combining metronomic Nant-paclitaxel with HER2-targeted natural killer cells (innate immunotherapy) for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer”

CULVER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2015-- 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 and NantCell, an immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery of innovative molecularly targeted therapeutics, announced today that preclinical results from the company’s HER2.taNK program will presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), December 8-12, 2015, in San Antonio, Texas.

"NantKwest is focused on bringing transformative, NK cell-based therapies to cancer patients that are designed to dramatically improve clinical outcomes. We will be presenting data from this recently completed research study in collaboration with the Windber Medical Center and NantCell at the upcoming SABCS meeting that demonstrates the synergistic use of low dose, metronomic Nant-paclitaxel in combination with our NK cell-based therapy,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, Chairman and CEO of NantKwest. "The results of this study supports the foundation for our HER2.taNK program, as well as several additional therapeutic programs that will transition to human clinical trials in 2016. We look forward to sharing more specific details on our clinical trial plans in the next few months.”

Details of the presentations are listed below and available on the SABCS website:

Title: “Novel protocol combining metronomic Nant-paclitaxel with HER2-targeted natural killer cells (innate immunotherapy) for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer”

Poster Session: Thursday, December 10, 2015, Poster Session 2: Treatment: Immunotherapy (Clinical) (7:30 AM-9:00 AM)

Authors: Rabizadeh S, Simon B, Klingemann H, Sims D, Weiss R, Soon-Shiong P. NantCell, Inc, Culver City, CA; NantKwest, Inc, Culver City, CA; Windber Medical Center, Windber, PA

Conclusion

Results show that Nant-paclitaxel alone and HER2.taNK alone significantly inhibited tumor growth. The combination of Nant-paclitaxel + HER2.taNK led to significant tumor regressions (p<0.05). Abstracts are available to the public online on the SABCS website: www.sabcs.org.

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.

Our 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.

About NantCell

NantCell, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NantWorks, LLC, is an immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative, molecularly targeted immunotherapeutics based on the proteomic profile of the patient's tumor, independent of the cancer's anatomical type. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the creator of Abraxane® and the founder of the nab® technology platform established NantCell to develop a pipeline of human antibodies and inhibitors of proteins which drive tumor growth and pursue the development of Chimeric Receptor Antigen platforms for use in both T cell and NK cell therapy. NantCell's mission is to make obsolete the standard method of clinical trial design of "trial and error" and replace it with a level of quantitative predictability based on both the genomic and proteomic profile performed a priori. The Company will tap into comprehensive “omic” analytic tools and "big data" generated from supercomputing to develop molecularly designed drugs in this era of genomics and proteomics and identify patients and their tumor signature at the most granular cellular, DNA and protein levels. Patients entering clinical trials would be identified after a comprehensive “omic” analysis from tissue to cell to DNA to RNA to protein to peptide to drug, and tested based on this molecular profile to maximize clinical outcome and minimize side effects. Through these integrated diagnostic methods, the company is pursuing the vision of treating the biology of cancer rather than the anatomy, and drive the immune system inherited by all to defeat cancer. For more information please visit www.nanthealth.com and follow Dr. Soon-Shiong on Twitter @solvehealthcare.

About NantWorks

NantWorks, LLC, founded by renowned physician scientist and inventor of the first human nanoparticle chemotherapeutic agent Abraxane®, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, is the umbrella organization for the following entities: NantHealth, NantMobileHealth, NantOmics, NantBio, NantCell, NantPharma, NantCapital and NantCloud. Fact-based and solution-driven, each of NantWorks’ division entities operates at the nexus of innovation and infrastructure.

The core mission of NantWorks is convergence and a systems approach to human biology: to develop and deliver a diverse range of technologies that accelerates innovation, broaden the scope of scientific discovery, enhance ground-breaking research, and improve healthcare treatment for those in need. NantWorks is building an integrated fact-based, genomically and proteomically -informed, personalized approach to the delivery of care and the development of next generation diagnostics and therapeutics for life threatening diseases such as Cancer, Infectious Diseases and Alzheimer’s. For more information please visit www.nantworks.com and follow Dr. Soon-Shiong on Twitter @solvehealthcare.

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Source: NantKwest

NantWorks
Jen Hodson, 562-397-3639
jhodson@nantworks.com