Iovance Biotherapeutics Explores a Potential Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Cancer drugmaker Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. is exploring a sale and has held preliminary talks with potential buyers, according to people familiar with the matter. The stock rose as much as 40% on the news.

The San Carlos, California-based company is working with a financial adviser after receiving takeover interest, said one of the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. No final decision has been made and Iovance could opt to remain independent, they said.

Iovance was up 30% to $32 per share at 2:45 p.m. in New York trading, giving the company a market value of about $4 billion. The stock, surging since the company released strong trial results for its cervical and skin cancer treatments in May, has risen 203% in the past year, including Tuesday’s gains.

A representative for Iovance declined to comment.

Iovance specializes in cell therapy focused on treating solid tumors, according to its website. It was previously known as Lion Biotechnologies until 2017.

It comes to market amid a steady spate of takeovers in the biotechnology space, as drugmakers seek to expand and diversify through acquisitions. Merck & Co. acquired ArQule Inc. for $2.4 billion last month while Sanofi closed a $2.1 billion deal for Synthorx Inc.

Iovance could make sense for potential buyers including Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Gilead Sciences Inc., Benjamin Burnett, an analyst with Stifel Financial Inc., said in a research note Tuesday.

“This is one of the few cell therapy companies in our coverage with data that has been de-risked to a large degree by a proof-of-concept study,” Burnett said. “We can see how this might be one of the more interesting cell therapy take-out candidates.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Hammond in New York at ehammond12@bloomberg.net;Nabila Ahmed in New York at nahmed54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks, Michael Hytha

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