Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:IOVA)

With the goal of stomping out cancer, Iovance develops transformative immuno-oncology tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapies that use the power of a patient’s own immune system.After its collaborator, Moffitt Cancer Center, provided an update on the Phase 1 testing of TILs plus nivolumab in CKI-naïve metastatic non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients, the stock is on Wall Street’s radar. In order to be eligible, patients needed to be anti-PD-1 naïve and at least one safely accessible metastasis from where TILs were isolated had to be present.Looking at the data, the therapy was effective in 25% of patients, with two complete responses recorded. On top of this, the key analysis indicates that in order to spur a clinical response, TILs need to survive and circulate systematically.Further explaining this, H.C. Wainwright’s Joseph Pantginis noted, “Importantly, the authors also demonstrated that neoantigen positive T cells represented 21% of total TIL clonotypes. Although TIL clonotype persistence declines with time in the blood of these patients, persistent and stable levels of infused T cells associated with higher tumor killing and response. Thus, we believe that methods to enrich for these TIL populations, such as Iovance’s next generation TILs could be critical to drive better clinical responses.” As NSCLC is a notoriously difficult indication to address, Pantginis argues that the results should be interpreted as a major positive. With this in mind, he left a “buy” rating on IOVA. Along with his bullish call, the analyst lifted the price target from $36 to $48. This brings the upside potential to 50%. With 100% Street support, or nine “buy” ratings set in recent months, the consensus is unanimous: IOVA is a “strong buy.”

Leading cell therapy player with efficacy shown in solid tumors, strong buyout potential