Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy Index Announces Merger Replacements

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Gilead and NewLink Added to the Only Index that Tracks Cancer Immunotherapy

LENEXA, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Loncar Investments, LLC today announced two new additions to the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy Index, a group of the top 30 companies developing cancer immunotherapy treatments and discovering new ways to use the body’s immune system to fight cancer.

The index committee has added Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) and NewLink Genetics (Nasdaq: NLNK). They replace Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) and Kite Pharma (Nasdaq: KITE), respectively.

These changes come after Gilead Sciences’ successful $11.9 billion acquisition of Kite Pharma.

Following the completion of this transaction, Gilead has emerged as a new leader in the CAR-T cellular immunotherapy field. Furthermore, NewLink is at the forefront of researching the role of the indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) pathway in cancer, an immune modulator involved in tumor escape.

“We are grateful for all that Kite has accomplished for patients who will benefit from CAR-T and look forward to watching Gilead build on this success,” said Brad Loncar, Chairman of the index committee. “CAR-T is the fifth type of modern day immunotherapy that has been approved by FDA. It joins checkpoint inhibitors, oncolytic viruses, bispecific antibodies and cancer vaccines as approved approaches. We are very pleased to see this momentum in the field.”

The above changes were made after a special meeting of the index’s committee and according to its rules. The next regularly scheduled semi-annual rebalance and reconstitution of the index will occur on December 19, 2017.

Loncar Investments is an official partner of the Cancer Research Institute, the world’s longest running nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to harnessing the immune system’s power to conquer all cancers. To learn about how to give to CRI, please visit here.

Why immunotherapy: Cancer immunotherapy has become an important sector in the biotechnology space and is changing the way many cancers are treated. While traditional medicines like chemotherapies often give cancer a broad punch, the benefit of using immunotherapy is derived from the immune system's dynamic nature and the way it can more precisely be tailored to fight a patient's disease.

About the index: The Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy Index is an equal-weighted index of 30 top immunotherapy companies rebalanced and reconstituted on a semi-annual basis. Price and return data are independently calculated on a daily basis by Indxx, LLC. This is a sector index similar to Technology sector indices (Internet, Cyber Security, Robotics, etc.). Sector indices allow investors to track interest areas more precisely than broad indices. Additional information can be found at the index’s dedicated website, www.LoncarIndex.com.

Index provider: Loncar Investments, LLC is committed to making the biotechnology space more approachable to a wider range of investors. The company is principally owned by biotech investor and analyst Brad Loncar. Mr. Loncar manages a biotech-focused family portfolio from his Lenexa, Kan. office. He can be followed on Twitter at @bradloncar and his commentary is available at www.loncarblog.com.