Why Iovance Biotherapeutics Stock Is Dropping Tuesday
Shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: IOVA) were down more than 8% as of 10:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday after the biotech announced a public stock offering. The stock is up more than 26% so far this year.
Iovance specializes in tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies for patients with cancer. The company's lead TIL therapy is Lifileucel, used to treat patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic melanoma. On Monday, the company said it was selling 20 million shares of stock at $7.50 to raise about $150 million. Public stock offerings dilute the value of the shares to current investors, so the stock dropped, plus the sale was offering the shares at a 14.6% discount over what they closed at on Monday.
Iovance said it planned to use the proceeds from the stock sale to launch Lifileucel, if approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as support the company's other clinical trials and expenses.
Source Fool.com
