Kite Announces Closing of Public Offering of Common Stock and Full Exercise of Underwriters' Option to Purchase Additional Shares

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kite Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:KITE) today announced the closing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 4,750,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $75.00 per share, as well as the exercise in full of the underwriters' option to purchase 712,500 additional shares. Including the option exercise, the total gross proceeds to Kite from the offering are expected to be approximately $409.7 million, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. The closing of the option exercise is expected to occur on or about March 10, 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.

Jefferies LLC acted as sole book-running manager for the offering. Cowen and Company, LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC and Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as co-managers.

The securities described above are being offered by Kite pursuant to a shelf registration statement (including a prospectus) filed on December 8, 2015 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has become automatically effective. A final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering has been filed with the SEC and is available for free on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from: Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue , 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, or by telephone at (877) 547-6340, or by email at Prospectus_Department@Jefferies.com.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Kite

Kite is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of innovative cancer immunotherapies with a goal of providing rapid, long-term durable response and eliminating the burden of chronic care. The company is focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T cell receptor (TCR) engineered cell therapies designed to empower the immune system's ability to recognize and kill tumors. Kite is based in Santa Monica, CA.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The press release may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "expected," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things, the completion, timing and size of its public offering. Various factors may cause differences between Kite's expectations and actual results, including risks and uncertainties associated with the satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the public offering, as well as those as discussed in greater detail in Kite's filings with the SEC, including without limitation in its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Kite assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

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Kite Pharma, Inc.Christine CassianoSVP, Corporate Communications & Investor Relationsccassiano@kitepharma.comorGreg MannVP, Investor Relationsgmann@kitepharma.com

Source: Kite Pharma, Inc.

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