South African-born billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong’s net worth sheds $290 million in six days

South African-born biopharma billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong’s net worth has dropped by $290 million in the past six days. The hefty decline in his net worth comes not long after investors booked profits after shares in his biotech company ImmunityBio surged above $4.70.

The South African-American transplant surgeon is presently ranked the 225th-richest person in the world, per Bloomberg data. He made the majority of his fortune from the sale of two pharmaceutical companies and his 73.2-percent stake in ImmunityBio.

Recently, Soon-Shiong’s net worth has dropped from $9.25 billion on Aug. 15 to $8.96 billion, a decline of $290 million. This brings his year-to-date wealth loss to $990 million. He is now on track to join the long list of billionaires who have seen their net worth fall by more than $1 billion this year.

The recent decline in his wealth can be attributed to his biotech company’s share price dropping by more than 15 percent in the past six days, from $4.73 to $3.97.

Since the start of the year, ImmunityBio’s share price has fallen by 47.28 percent due to the numerous difficulties that the company has encountered in its operating environment. These difficulties have had a significant impact on the company’s valuation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to review ImmunityBio’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for N-803 in July, with a decision from the regulatory body on the treatment’s approval anticipated on May 23, 2023. N-803 is an investigational treatment for unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

In line with Soon-Shiong’s strategy to speed up the production of drugs, biologics, and vaccines for patients on the continent, NantSA, an ImmunityBio operating subsidiary, opened a facility in South Africa earlier this year with the aim to produce up to 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines annually by 2025.