ImmunityBio Inc. (NASDAQ: IBRX) presented a health economic analysis at ISPOR 2026 demonstrating that ANKTIVA plus BCG treatment showed lower costs per sustained complete response compared to TAR-200 in patients with BCG-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer carcinoma in situ.

The analysis, presented May 17-20 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, used a cost-consequence model comparing ANKTIVA plus BCG with TAR-200 in a U.S. Medicare population over three years. The study incorporated data from the QUILT-3.032 study for ANKTIVA plus BCG and the SunRISe-1 trial for TAR-200.

Key findings included cost savings per cystectomy avoided of $109,622 at year one, $151,438 at year two, and $60,393 at year three for ANKTIVA plus BCG compared to TAR-200. The analysis showed cost savings per complete responder of $313,775 at year one and $282,013 at year two.

The cost reductions were attributed to lower drug acquisition and administration costs, based on complete response rates of 49.6% for ANKTIVA plus BCG versus 45.9% for TAR-200 derived from an indirect treatment comparison.

The study used a multi-state Markov model to assess costs associated with treatment acquisition, administration, healthcare resource utilization, radical cystectomy, and mortality. Dr. Ruchika Talwar from Vanderbilt Health presented the findings.

ANKTIVA is an interleukin-15 receptor agonist approved with BCG for treating adult patients with BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ. Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer represents approximately 75% of all bladder cancer diagnoses in the United States, according to the press release.