Piercing the hype around Patrick Soon-Shiong’s ‘Bioshield’ cancer treatment

Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

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Clinical trial results presented earlier this week do not support the claim made by billionaire physician Patrick Soon-Shiong that a drug sold by his company, ImmunityBio, prolonged the lives of patients with advanced lung cancer. 

The drug, Anktiva, is marketed as a treatment for a type of bladder cancer. Commercial sales are modest, and a competing, potentially superior drug from Johnson & Johnson was approved this week.