Los Angeles Court Rejects Patrick Soon-Shiong’s Attempt to Avoid Sorrento Litigation Allowing Arbitration Case to Move Forward


SAN DIEGO, Oct. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRNE, "Sorrento") announced today that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has rejected Patrick Soon-Shiong’s attempt to allow him and his company, NantPharma, to avoid the billion-dollar fraud and breach of contract claims that Sorrento filed against them earlier this year.  Sorrento’s claims relate to the “catch and kill” scheme that Soon-Shiong allegedly orchestrated to keep Sorrento’s promising cancer drug, Cynviloq, off the market in order to preserve Soon-Shiong’s personal financial interest in another competing drug.

In his ruling, which was dated October 9th but was served upon Sorrento on October 15th, the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, among other things, denied Soon-Shiong’s and NantPharma’s motion to stay or dismiss Sorrento’s arbitration against them, thus allowing the case to proceed in full.  The Court also granted Sorrento’s motions to compel Soon-Shiong entity NantCell’s counterclaims to arbitration, rejecting NantCell’s attempts to avoid the arbitration agreement it had previously entered into with Sorrento.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and any statements made for and during any presentation or meeting contain forward-looking statements related to Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., under the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the expectations relating to Sorrento and any litigation commenced, including, but not limited to, Sorrento’s claims against Patrick Soon-Shiong and NantCell.  Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to: risks related to Sorrento's and its subsidiaries' litigation, including, but not limited to, Sorrento’s claims against Patrick Soon-Shiong and NantCell and other risks that are described in Sorrento's most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Sorrento's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors set forth in those filings. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement in this press release except as required by law.

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Contact: Alexis Nahama, SVP Corporate Development

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Email: mediarelations@sorrentotherapeutics.com


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