Why Shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics Jumped Tuesday

Shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: IOVA) were up more than 17% late Tuesday afternoon after the clinical-stage biotech company announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved its biologics license application (BLA) for lifileucel, as a combination therapy with Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to treat advanced melanoma. Iovance specializes in using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes as therapies to fight cancer cells. Iovance announced on late Friday that the FDA had granted lifileucel Priority Review status and set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of Nov. 25 for the cell therapy.