A rendering of the new Iovance Biotherapeutics facility at 300 Rouse Blvd. at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Photo Credit: DIGSAU.

PHILADELPHIA— Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. has reached a lease agreement to build a new 136,000-square-foot production facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard here.

The San Carlos, CA-based firm, a late-stage biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte technology, states that the new production facility at 300 Rouse Blvd. at the Philadelphia Navy Yard will be used for the commercial and clinical production of autologous TIL products, including its candidate lifileucel. The facility will allow production, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines and is designed to provide scalability using modular processes, the company reports.

Iovance expects to invest approximately $75 million over three years for equipment and construction of the manufacturing suites. The company expects the new facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard will be completed in approximately two years.