UBS downgrades Iovance on sluggish uptake of skin cancer drug

Brokerage UBS downgrades drugmaker Iovance Biotherapeutics IOVA.O to "neutral" from "buy", trims PT to $2 from $17

New PT still implies a 13.6% upside to the stock's last close

Iovance's sales of its skin cancer drug, Amtagvi, were lower-than-expected in the first quarter of 2025, and the full-year forecast was reduced due to a slower-than-expected ramp up - brokerage

UBS believes the slower ramp up is due to implementation issues, insufficient hospital infrastructure, limited resources, and reimbursement hurdles

"Higher drop out rates seen in 1Q25 seem to indicate non-optimal patient selection and additional physician education will likely be required" - UBS

Including session's moves, IOVA stock down 77.4% YTD