ImmunityBio, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a leasehold interest in 409,000 square feet of ISO Class 5 pharmaceutical manufacturing space in western New York, and certain related assets, from global pharmaceutical company Athenex, Inc. The agreement will provide ImmunityBio with a biotech production facility that will substantially expand and diversify ImmunityBio's existing manufacturing capacity in the U.S., South Africa, and Botswana through its strategic collaborators. The full-scale manufacturing facility includes clean rooms for upstream and downstream manufacturing activities, as well as fill and finish and large-scale lyophilization capabilities. ImmunityBio believes that the acquisition of the newly constructed facility, located in Dunkirk, New York (Chautauqua County), will fast track the company's timeline for building production capacity at a significant scale.

ImmunityBio plans to further invest in the plant by adding biological manufacturing equipment and transferring technology from California to this large-scale production plant, and anticipates it will begin producing COVID vaccine drug substance in Fourth Quarter 2022. This is the latest expansion of ImmunityBio's GMP manufacturing capacity over the last five years, part of its overall growth plans in collaboration with its strategic partners designed to accelerate the company's ability to develop, prove, and bring to market its key products and therapies in competitive and regulated markets. New York State (“the State”) has made significant investments in the 409,000 square foot biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Dunkirk.

The plant will enable ImmunityBio to fast track establishing operations and help to accelerate converting medical research into pharmaceutical products, creating sustainable manufacturing jobs in the region. As part of purchasing the leasehold interest, ImmunityBio would assume the investment and employment commitments of Athenex pursuant to its agreements with the State. In addition, ImmunityBio will provide contract manufacturing capacity at the Dunkirk Facility to Athenex (or one of its affiliates) for its 503B formulation program.