On Friday, Stifel, a financial services firm, maintained its Buy rating and a $28.00 stock price target for Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA). This affirmation follows the presentation of updated clinical trial results for the company's cancer treatment, lifileucel, in combination with pembrolizumab for first-line (1L) metastatic melanoma.
The data, showcased at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2024 (ASCO24), revealed promising outcomes, particularly noting an approximate 30% complete response (CR) rate among patients. Stifel highlighted the small sample size of 23 participants but emphasized the treatment's durability, which appears to surpass that of existing monotherapies and combination therapies like ipilimumab/nivolumab and nivolumab/relatlimab.
The comparison with the ipilimumab/nivolumab/relatlimab regimen, which has a 24-month progression-free survival (PFS) rate of 57% and a CR rate of 17%, was particularly favorable for lifileucel. The ongoing positive responses and a higher clinical benefit rate (CBR) of over 90% versus approximately 76% for the trio combination suggest potential for lifileucel to achieve extended PFS.
Stifel anticipates that discussions regarding access to first-line patients will continue, with the durability of responses likely to influence future referral patterns for the treatment. The firm's position indicates confidence in the long-term prospects of lifileucel based on the current clinical evidence.
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