FDA approves Iovance’s cell therapy for melanoma, the first treatment based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes

An ex­per­i­men­tal ap­proach to treat­ing can­cer more than 40 years in the mak­ing fi­nal­ly has a long-sought and re­peat­ed­ly de­layed green light from the FDA.

On Fri­day, Io­vance Bio­ther­a­peu­tics won ac­cel­er­at­ed ap­proval for Am­tagvi, a cell ther­a­py for pa­tients with ad­vanced melanoma. It’s the first mod­ern cell ther­a­py for a sol­id tu­mor, rather than blood can­cer, and the first ap­proved treat­ment based on tu­mor-in­fil­trat­ing lym­pho­cytes, or TILs.

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