Sorrento Therapeutics: U.S. trustee says NantCell should stay on committee

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., March 16 – Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.’s motion asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas to remove its largest unsecured creditor, NantCell, Inc., from the official committee of unsecured creditors drew an objection from Region 7 U.S. trustee Kevin M. Epstein, according to documents filed with the court on Thursday.

As previously reported, Sorrento said NantCell’s interests are fundamentally misaligned with the debtors’ other general unsecured creditors. Sorrento has been involved in litigation since 2019 with Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and a number of his companies, including NantCell.

The U.S. trustee said Thursday that while he is sensitive to the debtor’s concerns, he is aware of no information at this time that would indicate that NantCell is either unable or unwilling to perform its fiduciary role.

Epstein also noted that, in response to the debtor’s concerns and as an additional safeguard, the committee has adopted protocols that would restrict information to and require recusal by NantCell from certain matters in the cases, which would appear to mitigate many of the concerns raised by the debtor.

The U.S. trustee said he will continue to monitor NantCell’s membership on the committee and will modify the group structure if needed.

The biopharmaceutical company is based in San Diego. The company filed bankruptcy on Feb. 13 under Chapter 11 case number 23-90085.

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