The FDA reportedly accepted Iovance's license application for its melanoma treatment
The shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:IOVA) were last seen up 10.7% to trade at $8.36, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reportedly accepted the company's license application for its advanced melanoma treatment. Plus, IOVA received a price-target hike from Stifel to $24 from $21.
The security is once again bouncing off support at the $7 region, and earlier came close to conquering last week's annual high of $9.36. The shares are also back above the 200-day moving average, after a brief slip below this trendline, as they look to snap their three-day losing streak. Year-to-date, IOVA is up 34%.
Short sellers are already hitting the exits, with short interest down 2.1% during the most recent reporting period. However, the 23.38 million shares sold short still account for 11.2% of the equity's available float, or over one week's worth of pent-up buying power. An unwinding of this pessimism could boost IOVA.
So far today, 6,444 calls and 1,614 puts have already crossed the tape, which is 11 times the intraday average volume. Most popular is the June 10 call, followed by the 7.50 put in that series.