Why Shares of ImmunityBio Were Up on Wednesday

Shares of (NASDAQ: IBRX) were up 10% at 11:40 a.m. ET on Wednesday. The clinical-stage biotech company focuses on cell therapies and immunotherapy platforms, including vaccines and therapies to treat infections and cancers. The stock is down than 35% so far this year.

The company posted two research papers on Wednesday that may have helped drive the stock up. In the first, it reported that the company has developed a self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccine for COVID-19 that, unlike mRNA vaccines, is stable at room temperature. That's important because other COVID-19 cold-chain requirements have hampered vaccine distribution, particularly in less wealthy countries. The paper says the saRNA/NLC vaccine, in preclinical studies, was able to induce a strong immunity. The therapy is currently in phase 1 trials.

The other paper showed that in a phase 2 trial of a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia patients, transplanted natural killer cells showed a strong response. 

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Source Fool.com