Stock Alert: NantKwest Shares Up 48% In Pre-Market

(RTTNews) - Shares of NantKwest Inc. (NK) are rising over 48% in pre-market today, after the company announced that NantKwest and ImmunityBio Inc. are in active discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for vaccines and therapeutics to combat COVID-19.

NantKwest has proprietary isolation and expansion methods for growing MSCs and is using ImmunityBio's automated, closed system (GMP-in-a-Box) to safely and rapidly grow these stem cells from a bone marrow cell bank in approximately 7-9 days. NantKwest has filed an IND with the FDA and anticipates beginning trials in Q2 2020.

NK has been trading in the range of $0.95 - $9.90 for the past one year, and closed Monday's trade at $3.14, up 15 cents or 5.02%. The stock is currently trading at $4.65, up $1.51 or 48.09% in the pre-market trading session.