Every week Cathie Wood, Ceo of Ark Invest, shares her weekly commentaries with investors about the performance of stocks and the strategies ARK Invest goes forward within transacting stocks of companies.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA)
   39%      

Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA), a tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) immunotherapy leader, closed down 39% on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Iovance announced that it was delaying its Biologics License Application (BLA) from the second half of 2021 to the first half of 2022 because of FDA feedback on its potency assays.

On Wednesday, the company disclosed that Maria Fardis, CEO of the company for the last five years, was leaving “to pursue other opportunities,” and that General Counsel Frederick Vogt would be stepping in as interim CEO.

We believe that Iovance’s TILs will continue to be the most compelling therapy for solid tumors in the market and that Iovance has the most robust TIL data set. Furthermore, in our view, Iovance is trail-blazing the FDA regulatory process and likely will get FDA approval for its TIL therapy to treat melanoma, a very difficult-to-treat disease with high unmet need.