09:27 AM EDT, 04/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- ImmunityBio ( IBRX ) rose more than 23% in recent premarket activity on Tuesday after the US Food and Drug Administration approved a combination of the company's Anktiva immunotherapy and the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin bacterium in patients with a form of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer that previously was unresponsive to BGC therapy.

The FDA approval includes using the combination as a maintenance therapy for up to 37 months, the company said. The federal agency had already designated Anktiva as a breakthrough therapy, with the company saying Tuesday it should be available in the US by mid-May.