Sorrento Announces Strategic Investment By And Collaboration With Nantworks Founder Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong For The Advancement Of Cancer Immunotherapies

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

, an oncology company developing new treatments for cancer and associated pain, announced today that it has entered into a binding agreement with NantWorks founder, physician scientist, and biotechnology entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Under the terms of the agreement, NantWorks and Sorrento will establish a global strategic collaboration to jointly develop next generation immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and auto-immune diseases. NantWorks, through a subsidiary, and Sorrento intend to establish the first joint venture – "The Immunotherapy Antibody JV" – as an independent biotechnology company with $20 million initial joint funding. As part of a strategic investment, Dr. Soon-Shiong's affiliated entity will acquire a 19.9% equity stake in Sorrento by purchasing common stock priced at $5.80 per share, Sorrento's closing sale price on Friday, December 12, 2014. In addition, Sorrento granted the purchaser a 3-year warrant to purchase 1,724,138 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $5.80 per share. The Immunotherapy Antibody JV will focus on accelerating the development of multiple immuno-oncology monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for the treatment of cancer, including but not limited to anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, anti-CTLA4 mAbs, and other immune-check point antibodies as well as antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecific antibodies. The immuno-oncology field has emerged as the one of most exciting and fastest developing pharmaceutical market. Immunomodulatory antibodies help the cancer patient's own immune system to fight the disease and are being developed for the treatment of a number of solid tumors. They have demonstrated therapeutic potential in difficult-to-treat cancers, such as metastatic melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A recent forecast by Citigroup predicts this market to become the biggest blockbuster drug class in history with potential sales of up to $35 billion a year over the next 10 years. "We are extremely pleased to be working with Dr. Patrick-Soon Shiong and NantWorks. The investment into Sorrento and future formation of the JV with NantWorks further validate our G-MAB antibody technology and underscore Sorrento's commitment to seeking strategic alliances in bringing its diverse portfolio of fully human monoclonal antibodies, ADCs, and bispecific antibodies into the clinic," said Dr. Henry Ji, President and CEO of Sorrento. "Our innovative collaboration will unite Sorrento's capability to develop complex biologics with NantWorks proprietary genomic and personalized medicine technologies. We share NantWorks' enthusiasm for the potential of our JV to produce a pipeline of immuno-oncology products to address unmet needs of cancer treatment." "Combining NantWorks' cutting edge expertise in genomic and molecular profiling of cancer patients and Sorrento's industry-leading G-MAB antibody technology, we believe will enable us to develop multiple novel therapies for malignant disorders where there is currently a significant unmet need. Through this partnership, it is our goal to provide relief for millions of people who today have limited treatment options. This will be a model relationship aligned to accelerate development and production of novel cancer immunotherapies. We look forward to working closely with Sorrento's team," said Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, CEO and Founder of NantWorks.