Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO) shares rallied to $8.65, up $2.62 from its previous closing price, on Friday’s US session. This was spurred by the announcement of the company’s new CEO and President Dr. Maria Fardis who has previously worked as chief operating officer at Acerta Pharma, which was later on acquired by AstraZeneca for $7 billion.
She has also had extensive experience in drug development and new cancer treatments, being instrumental in Pharmacyclis’ development of cancer drug Imbruvica. She succeeds Elma Hawkins, Ph.D. and her term began on June 1.
“Lion Biotechnologies has a unique scientific approach in using immuno-oncology to treat solid tumors and I am thrilled to join the team and execute our mission to advance the frontier of personalized medicine,” said Dr. Fardis in a press statement.
In addition to this news, Lion Biotechnologies shared that it was also able to raise $100 million in funding. This is backed by Quogue Capital, OrbiMed Advisors, Frazier Healthcare Partners and Broadfin Capital. The company has sold a combination of 9,684,000 shares of common stock and 11,368,500 shares of newly authorized Series B Preferred Stock with this deal that is expected to close by June 7.
With this new funding, the company now has $200 million in cash, which should be enough to sustain their spending levels for the next few years. This can allow the company to build on its current projects involving cancer immunotherapy.
Lion Biotechnologies is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is focused on developing and commercializing cancer immunotherapy products designed to harness the power of a patient’s own immune system to eradicate cancer cells. It has a lead pipeline candidate, LN-144, which is an adoptive cell therapy using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes to treat patients with refractory metastatic melanoma.
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