You’ve probably seen the name. Maybe it was on a hospital wing, or perhaps you caught it in a heated headline about the Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong is a bit of a paradox. He is the surgeon who performed the first whole-pancreas transplant at UCLA, yet he’s also the billionaire businessman who some critics say is "meddling" in the editorial independence of one of America's greatest newspapers.
Honestly, it’s hard to keep up with him. Is he a healer or a shark? A visionary or a micromanager?
Right now, in early 2026, he’s doubling down on something he calls "Immunotherapy 2.0." It’s not just a catchy marketing phrase. It’s basically his attempt to rewrite how we treat cancer by focusing on the immune system's "memory" rather than just blasting the body with toxic chemicals. While the world was arguing about his 2024 decision to block the LA Times from endorsing a presidential candidate—which, let's be real, caused a massive firestorm—he was quietly securing approvals in places like Saudi Arabia for new immunotherapy drugs.
The ANKTIVA Factor: Why 2026 is a Turning Point
Most people know him for Abraxane, the blockbuster cancer drug he sold for billions. But that’s old news. The real story today is ANKTIVA.
Basically, this drug is an IL-15 receptor superagonist. That sounds like a mouthful of science jargon, but think of it as a "booster shot" for your body’s natural killer (NK) cells. In 2024, it got the nod for certain types of bladder cancer. Now, in 2026, the focus has shifted toward lung cancer and even rare lymphomas.
- The Big Breakthrough: Just days ago, in January 2026, his company ImmunityBio announced a durable complete response in patients with Waldenström lymphoma.
- The Outpatient Shift: We’re seeing a move toward "chemotherapy-free" treatments that can be done in a clinic rather than a hospital bed.
- The Global Push: He recently co-chaired a summit in San Francisco with Saudi Arabian leaders to build what they call a "Bioshield."
It’s an ambitious, almost sci-fi vision. He talks about "rescuing" the immune system from the damage caused by traditional radiation. Some experts are skeptical, though. They wonder if the hype matches the clinical reality. But you can't deny the momentum.
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The Los Angeles Times "Democratization" Experiment
If his biotech life is about precision, his media life is... complicated.
Buying the Los Angeles Times in 2018 for $500 million was supposed to be his "civic duty" moment. But by 2024 and 2025, things got messy. Subscriptions plummeted after he blocked a key endorsement, and the paper was reportedly losing upwards of $50 million a year.
So, what is he doing about it now?
He’s trying to take it public. But not in the traditional "Wall Street" way. He’s using something called a Regulation A financing plan. Basically, it’s a way for regular people to buy shares in the paper. He’s calling the new umbrella "L.A. Times Next Network." It includes not just the news, but also gaming (NantG) and virtual production studios.
Kinda weird for a newspaper, right?
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Critics say he's trying to turn a legacy newsroom into a tech startup. Supporters say it’s the only way to save local journalism from total extinction. Whether it works or not depends on whether readers are willing to become "investors" in a brand that has been through a lot of recent turmoil.
Why He Still Matters in 2026
Despite the controversies, Soon-Shiong remains one of the most influential figures in both medicine and media. He’s sitting on a net worth that fluctuates between $6 billion and $12 billion, depending on which index you trust. But he doesn't seem interested in retiring to a beach.
He is obsessed with the idea of the "Cold Tumor."
In the cancer world, a "cold" tumor is one that the immune system doesn't recognize. It just sits there, invisible. Soon-Shiong’s life work is essentially trying to turn those tumors "hot" so the body can do the work itself.
What Most People Miss
People usually focus on his wealth. They miss the fact that he’s actually a tinkerer at heart. He holds over 500 patents. He isn't just the guy signing the checks; he’s often the guy in the lab (or the boardroom) arguing about the specific protein folding or the AI algorithm used to map a tumor’s genome.
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Is he spread too thin? Probably.
Between the L.A. Lakers (he owns a minority stake), the newspaper, and a dozen biotech companies under the NantWorks banner, he’s trying to solve everything at once.
Actionable Insights: Following the Soon-Shiong Strategy
If you're looking at his moves to understand where the future is heading, keep these three things in mind:
- Watch the "Outpatient" Trend: Soon-Shiong is betting big that the future of cancer care is decentralized. If you’re in the healthcare space, look at companies moving complex therapies out of the hospital and into the community.
- The Rise of NK Cells: T-cell therapy (like CAR-T) has been the darling of the biotech world, but it’s expensive and hard to scale. Soon-Shiong is betting on Natural Killer (NK) cells as a cheaper, "off-the-shelf" alternative.
- Media as an Ecosystem: The L.A. Times experiment shows that "just news" might not be a sustainable business model anymore. The move toward combining news with gaming and creator platforms is a "hail mary" that other media owners are watching closely.
Patrick Soon-Shiong is a polarizing figure, no doubt about it. But in a world that usually rewards specialists, he remains a defiant generalist, trying to fix the human body and the "body politic" at the same time. Whether he succeeds or fails, he’s definitely not going to be quiet about it.
To keep track of his progress, pay close attention to the ImmunityBio (IBRX) clinical trial results for "QUILT" studies released throughout the rest of 2026. These will be the ultimate proof of whether his "Immunotherapy 2.0" vision is a medical revolution or just another expensive dream.