SAN CARLOS, Calif., Jan. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:IOVA), a biotechnology company developing novel cancer immunotherapies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology, today announced the closing of an underwritten public offering of 15,000,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $11.50 per share. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and other estimated offering expenses payable by Iovance, are approximately $172.5 million. The shares of common stock issued and sold in the offering include 1,956,521 shares issued upon the exercise in full by the underwriter of their option to purchase additional shares at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount.

Iovance intends to use the proceeds from this offering to fund its ongoing clinical trials for its current product candidates, including its ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials of LN-144, TIL for treatment of metastatic melanoma, and LN-145, TIL for the treatment of cervical and head and neck cancers, to fund its planned clinical trials for its current product candidates, including a planned Phase 2 clinical trial of LN-145 for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in collaboration with MedImmune, as well as the NSCLC study in collaboration with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, to fund its planned clinical trials in multiple solid tumor cancers with The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, to fund additional clinical trials to move TIL therapy to an earlier line of treatment, to fund activities related to commercial scale-up of Iovance’s third party manufacturing operations and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Jefferies LLC acted as sole book-running manager for the offering.

The shares of common stock described above were offered by Iovance pursuant to its shelf registration statement on Form S-3 previously filed and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to this offering was filed with the SEC on January 24, 2018. A final prospectus supplement relating to the offering was filed with the SEC on January 25, 2018.  Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may be obtained by contacting Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor New York, New York, 10022,by telephone at (877) 821-7388, or by email at [email protected].