Life long Maverick: Seen it ALLl in 40 yrs of PROF. exposure as invest analyst/port mgr on the FRONT lines vs iHub Msg Bds.
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XenaLives: HP+initiator+intelligence= DYNAMO@Work
Hope your followers are doing just that: following YOU! since it's
still early for BIG BLUE SKIES like in Montana for NWBO.
Great to see a needed breathe of fresh air and a repository of both technical and fundamental skills. Two KEY elements for a successful investor IMHO. Science is a also a KEY part but without those two others and a sense of market psychology surrounding NWBO, it would be subject to lots of cross currents as we have witnessed.
XENAlives is a human computer doing the AI work. In fact one of my good friends, a MS in Computer Programming/Sciences from Carnegie Mellon Univ, has worked at a few hedge funds doing that exactly. Before he ventured into the financial world he wanted to doing an AI on me! But with his busy life, never got around to it.
FWIW:
#1 A few days ago I sensed NWBO was going to pop: Alerted by MACD and other supporting technical indicators.
#2 Level 2 watchers:
Suspected representing shorts: UBS; ADFN as their mktmkrs
MANNA from Heaven:
Hopefully this is the just the start of a long procession of positive developments:
Share Price REVERSAL followed by:
1) Citizens for Responsiblity & Ethics in Washington letter to SEC
concerning alleged stock price manipulation.
2) XenaLives appearing
3) " " filling a much needed Moderator Void
4)Investor change in Psychology towards
LP et al
5)Institutional accumulation?
ALL of the above achieved despite the rampant admonitions/speculations of this board for weeks of LP needing to being SPECIFIC in flurry of PR's.
Sometimes the less said here on iHub the better given the events above: Silence can be Golden!
A truly Cathartic Experience to be remembered!
You & I share that same perspective. MOST sadly succumbed to the formally, relentless barrage of hit pieces heretofore chronicalized, along with the orchestration of the sharp downward share price spiral since mid March which was compounded by large IBB index correction as well as options expirations. Sadly, most like Doktor's admission, have only a fraction of their former holdings or totally sold out! IMHO, one should never underestimate the depths of their arsenal.
Before NWBO, very few have experienced the depths of alleged stock price manipulation, let alone dealt with short hedgies like I have!
In life one needs to be adding daily to one's skill sets with the necessary changes and adjustments adopting an open mind set versus arguing for one's structured, inflexible perspective.
To each his own.
FINALLY Confirmation vs NONSENSE formerly posted when stock
declines....
Supports what I stated in my first post:
One NEEDS to WADE THRU the thicket of info in SEC filings
on many issues raised on this board.
VERSUS
Posted statements of:
1)How do we know LP & Cognate didn't sell shares!!
2)How do we know shareholder's aren't being screwed!
IF ALL posters would really do their DD NONE of the ABOVE
and MORE....It wouldn't cause UNNEEDED concern or apprehension.
Great to have your inquisitive, investigatory mind let alone your experience unfurled in such short order
Most ALL of your questions (those of others especially!) and answerS will be found here in the latest prospectus (the latest "Bible filed 4/14 by NWBO in the last big capital raise to ONE shrhldr: purportedly Susquehanna Holdings a $40+ bln fund referenced in my post you referenced just a few posts ago: Food for Thought and Clearing the Air)
http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/filingFrameset.asp?FileName=0001144204-14-022210%2Etxt&FilePath=%5C2014%5C04%5C11%5C&CoName=NORTHWEST+BIOTHERAPEUTICS+INC&FormType=424B5&RcvdDate=4%2F11%2F2014&pdf=
Copied and pasted from the above link is the pertinent section that will answer the question you posed related to Intellectual Property (IP):
"Our intellectual property rights may be overturned, narrowed or blocked, and may not provide sufficient commercial protection for our product candidates, or third parties may infringe upon our intellectual property.
The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Patent laws afford only limited protection and may not protect our rights to the extent necessary to sustain any competitive advantage we may have. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and we may encounter significant problems in protecting our proprietary rights in those countries. Moreover patents and patent applications relating to living cell products are relatively new, involve complex factual and legal issues, and are largely untested in litigation — and as a result, are uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which adequately protect our technology or products or which effectively prevent others from commercializing the same or competitive technologies and products. As a result, we may not be able to obtain meaningful patent protection for our commercial products, and our business may suffer as a result. Third parties may challenge our existing patents, and such challenges could result in overturning or narrowing some of our patents. Even if our patents are not challenged, third parties could assert that their patents block our use of technology covered by some or all of our patents
As of October 31, 2013, we had 68 pending patent applications and 120 issued patents worldwide relating to our product candidates and related matters such as manufacturing processes. The issued patents expire at various dates from 2015 to 2029. Our issued patents may be challenged, and such challenges may result in reductions in scope, cancellations or invalidations. Our pending patent applications may not result in issued patents. Moreover, our patents and patent applications may not be sufficiently broad to prevent others from using substantially similar technologies or from developing competing products. We also face the risk that others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies, or design around our patented technologies. As a result, no assurance can be given that any of our pending or future patent applications will be granted, that the scope of any patent protection currently granted or that may be granted in the future will exclude competitors or provide us with competitive advantages, that any of the patents that have been or may be issued to us will be held valid if subsequently challenged, or that other parties will not claim rights to or ownership of our patents or other proprietary rights that we hold.
We have taken security measures (including execution of confidentiality agreements) to protect our proprietary information, especially proprietary information that is not covered by patents or patent applications. These measures, however, may not provide adequate protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information. In addition, others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information or techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets."
AND
As for Toucan Capital copied and pasted below from same document:
"Toucan Capital and its affiliates are the principal holders of our shares of common stock, and this concentration of ownership may have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.
As of February 28, 2014, Toucan Capital and its affiliates (including Cognate BioServices, Toucan Partners and Linda Powers, who also serves as our Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Board of Directors), collectively, owned an aggregate of 20,489,355 shares of our outstanding common stock, representing approximately 39% of our issued and outstanding common stock on that date. This concentration of ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock because investors may perceive disadvantages in owning stock of companies with controlling stockholders. Toucan Capital and its affiliates have the ability to exert substantial influence over all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election and removal of directors and any proposed merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This influence could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control, or impeding a merger or consolidation, takeover or other business combination that could be favorable to investors".
For Preferred conversion to Common and Lock Up Agreement:
Should be found in 6/13 conversion agreement:
http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/filingFrameset.asp?FileName=0001144204-13-042099%2Etxt&FilePath=%5C2013%5C07%5C31%5C&CoName=NORTHWEST+BIOTHERAPEUTICS+INC&FormType=8-K&RcvdDate=7%2F31%2F2013&pdf=
Hope the above gives you the necessary catapult!
No PR: Ping Ponging Posts UNNEEDED iHub Member Dissension
Given LP's monumental achievements in rescuing NWBO and that she et al has the most at risk, I think, especially given the delicate situation of both PH3 and AF et al picking on ANYTHING with Direct or GBM Europe developments LP has got to where she is in life by making strategically critical DAILY decisions!
Just because shareholders are clamoring for NEWS will NOT sway her to do WHAT IS RIGHT!
Consistent with my previous posts.
AND NEW BLOOD welcomed!
As Pyrh indicates: PATIENCE is the operative word.
No sense beating up upon each other's unknown sensitivities.
Be constructive vs destabilizing or destructive.
Our Don Quixote left but Maverick persists:
Posted this comment (Sunday 7/20/14 9PM) directly for Larry Smith on his latest and personally most serious NWBO piece written last Thursday July 17th:
Northwest Biotherapeutics: Responding To Richard Pearson's Article Alleging A Promotion Scheme
Jul. 17, 2014 8:25 AM ET | 67 comments
MaverickA
Comment (1)| + Follow | Send Message
Not surprisingly, it does NOT seem this "Richard Pearson" has capitalized upon his NWBO hit piece given his previous success with companies tied to stock promotion: ie GALE et al. The reason is because one can NOT logically connect with any of his allegations in that rambing, long winded piece: contains no factual documentation of paid stock promotion. Furthermore, ALL alleged parties have denied it strenuously and in a timely manner. And "Richard Pearson" has NO response!
For Larry Smith:
Short of you beginning to see some germination from your valiant efforts to seek JUSTICE and recourse to the clear manipulation of NWBO shrs by AFstein; the MD Anderson ordeal; and the seriousness of unsupported allegations of "RP" against Larry Smith; NWBO et al, I have, I believe, an interim solution of how to level this David vs Goliath ordeal on many levels. Everyone should read DesperateCapturedotCom to get a realistic appraisal of what goes on, as it relates to the emerging growth areas, especially biotechnology. Hedgies pick candidates to short in a very discerning, intelligent manner and have a DEEP network to influence stock prices thru many mechanisms as we've witnessed..... to sufficiently suffocate a company! More importantly, when they sense low institutional interest such as with NWBO (courtesy of the plight of DNDN; IMUC and brevity of news to meet the conventional mainstream biotech investor criterias), then, it is liken "to death by a thousand cuts".
Coincidentally, Larry we have met while you were the Research Director of Smith Barney after my interviews with John Hoffman. Moreover, I have worked successfully during the '80's only, with some of the largest short hedgies. I am long NWBO and happily discovered a few months later, that it was the Larry Smith I met, and comforted by the views of that same expert on NWBO.
Instead of going into unfamiliar terrain such as the time consuming and frustrating endeavor of dealing with the snail like authorities, Larry you are equipped to bring to the fore from your arsenal some needed Bazooka's to level this uneven playing field. You need to fight fire with fire IMHO. Banking on some regulatory redress here on NWBO is a veritable long shot IMHO(one only needs to looks at the long term crusade depicted on DesperateCapturedotCom!)
Below is a much more productive approach that should reap benefits to all longs and NWBO in their future capital raise program:
You have acknowledged in excess of 7 mln shares of illegal naked short selling in NWBO shares which doubles that of 7 mln shares legally short. So that's 14 mln shs allegedly short or roughly 63 % of the true float (truly STAGGERING!) when you exclude Linda Powers, Toucan et al ownership last reported at 39%. Note the preceeding calculation does not take into account the 4/'14 capital raise by one party.
Presenting NWBO to savvy biotech fund managers such as OrbiMed; FMR (both early investors of ICPT) and especially Baker Bros (Felix is a Stanford Phd graduate in Immunology and 2 yrs in med school:the firm is on the board of many of their portfolio companies) would be far more productive than dealing
with regulators. Whether it is the trio of savvy biotech mgrs above, or some others that are typically ahead of the wave and thinking out of the box, it will be a Win-Win situation as the accumulation of shrs can be achieved without moving the shares a lot as it goes up against naked illegal shorts holding it back and could be had for a modicum of what NWBO could be worth (like ICPT before it got off the launching pad).
I do not know of anyone more suitably qualified than you, Larry, of seeking the beginnings of adequate redress to this clearly David vs Goliath ordeal that besets NWBO as well as possibly others in your area of interest and specialization on an ongoing basis! Welcome to the Dark Side of the financial economy. I've seen first hand how malicious they are in burying private financial firms; let alone public companies. Nothing is outside of their grasp as money talkS whether it is Wall St. or Main St.
Please level the playing field.
FYI I've posted sparingly and within just the last month under the same screen name on iHub.
Best of Regards Larry!
Mod Reqest:Theory on $Weakness
As I postulated over a week ago:
1)may see the beginnings of resumption of IBB Feb-April correction given the large snapback
2) Yellen of Fed singling out Biotech's "irrational exurbance like Greenspan commentary
3) CLEARLY when the NWBO message board are rife with rampant
expectations for weeks of an arsenal of potential announcements that may be
unveiled AND yesterday's PR which lacks of specificity results in a REVERSAL.
4)Many posters haven't IMHO done their real DD, admittedly complex
5)DENIALS of apparent weakness of retail hands AND the NEED FOR NEW BLOOD.
6)MB's especially this unbalanced one, exact too much unneeded demands on the few to result in repeated withdrawals!
6)Yet another Larry Smith solo article dedicated solely to damaging allegations of one "Richard Pearson" today indicates his own
serious concerns is NOT comforting. One never knows fully the status
except for a ruling or the passage of time based on real experience vs conjecture!
7)At times, it is good to step back from it all for awhile for recharging.
Those are some of my off the cuff observations above that aren't new and most of them should be obvious.
The less dependent one becomes upon MB posters as well as how one
positions one's portfolio to deal with this violatility specific
to NWBO.... the better off each poster will be!
The market keeps one humble depending on your seasoning and experience over many market cycles.
Evaluates find: GBI study on GBM Mkt Oulook
Verified via google:
DCVax-L Vaccine Launch to Boost Glioblastoma Multiforme Market Value to $623 Million by 2020
Published Date : 11-Jun-2014
Got posted on MarketWatch and the INFAMOUS TheStreet.com Tues 5-6PM
Todays news about mfg:
Copied and pasted below FYI and also refer to releases since late 2013:
The Company and its manufacturing partner, Cognate BioServices, are also expanding the manufacturing capacity for DCVax-Direct. During the last two years, in addition to manufacturing the DCVax-Direct products for the clinical trial, Cognate has undertaken development work for the DCVax-Direct program, and the automated system used in certain key stages of DCVax-Direct production, in order to build the foundation for this expansion of manufacturing capacity.
IBB(1.9%);PR's; NEED BAZOOKA's
With the widely anticipated PR's not happening today; along with many pointing to overvaluation of biotechs and social media (even Yellen of the FedRes?);I had pointed out the possibility of the beginning of the IBB succumbing possibly to a resumption of March like correction.
And with the damage done by AF/MDA/RP along with Naked Shorting we NEED NEW BLOOD(retail firepower mostly expended?)
Barring a major PR by NWBO, not at all an easy battleground for NWBO shr price: that's where those special bazooka's come in IF Flipper decides to bring this to the attention of Larry Smith.
Not mentioning this again.
"Elegant,Simplier NWBO CancerImmuno Approach
Admittedly not in medical field but complexities of Cancer Immuno Therapies voiced in the outset of this 3 pg article by Walter Urba, MD, PhD, Director of Cancer Research, Providence Medical Group, Portland, are IMHO hallmarks of the superimposed complexities of this subject.
One may easily get a compound migraine just scanning this article which delineates the tortuous but maybe needed maze of baffling considerations to maybe wind up with an FDA approval. On the other hand, NWBO's approach is IMHO: Simplier, Elegant; vs the massive complexities of other approaches.
Dr. Subaith Princ. Investgr of NWBO's Direct Ph1/2 trial @ MD Anderson's only comment:
“The TCR area was big-time 10 years ago,” says Vivek Subbiah, MD, Department of Investigational Therapeutics, MD Anderson Cancer Center. Yet, there has been resurgence in all approaches immunologic. “It’s a challenge – you need to pick the right patient, the right tumor, the right TCR gene sequences.” Preclinical work with TCRs to date all seems very promising, but as Dr. Subbiah points out, “I’ve yet to see any clinical data from T-cell receptors.”
Thanks Richmond for both opening our eyes further,adding yet another subscription source and for sharing your own views on MFG that I've voiced in my previous posts based on my own DD.
Docktor's UTube Message contained in Post 15513 even confirmed by Dr. Richard Besser ABC's Chief Health and Medical Editor(formerly head of Centers for Disease Control) and not surprisingly, coincidentally support my asides in post 15520.
Latest on "Richard Pearson" NWBO Promotion article
Pertinent Comment Section copied and pasted below are from recent manipulative Seeking Alpha Jul 7 '14 Behind The Promotion Of Northwest:
MedGuy103
Comments (450)| + Follow | Send Message
This is relevant as it speaks to the author's credibility, which arguably doesn't exist. Watch CodeSmart Reap Revenue Windfall - that is an article he wrote pumping a stock 8 months ago that is now selling for a penny. You can google it and the dallas news link works or here it is: http://tinyurl.com/ow4...
11 Jul, 09:00 PMRepl
djkidm
Comments (314)| + Follow | Send Message
Nice Link MedGuy103;
I wonder how long it took The Street to discredit him.... it seems they didn't really do anything but say that he is not associated with The Street.
It all somehow seems dis-ingenious, or not real. I suppose I should expect this type of dis-association, or just not living up to the facts.
I am feeling contrarian, and long $KNDI (which Pearson also bashed), and am thinking now is the time to invest in $NWBO...
Just curious what everyone thinks?
12 Jul, 08:32 AMReply! Report AbuseLike2
MedGuy103
Comments (450)| + Follow | Send Message
Thyfish
Comments (20)| + Follow | Send Message
*****Warning****RICHARD PEARSON IS A FRAUD*****WARNING*****
Great find. Now get the word out on this stock pumper, dumper, manipulator!! He writes damning false articles when he is to the short side and false pumping articles when he is on the long side!
ITEN was at $3 when he pumped them saying they would have revenue in the 10's of millions for 2014, they are now at .01!!!
Where is Richard to defend his article and the accusations that he has falsified and manufactured information?? Why has SA not investigated?
12 Jul, 12:42 PMReply! Report AbuseLike3
Docktor's 2nd prompting for a reply: ON EMPTY
I don't recall that the PC subject has been either mentioned by LP for quite some time, nor has it been asked and responded to by LP :but I could stand corrected.
Plus, a partner has to strategically weigh the "underpowered" (ie 1.0) version; the PH3 designed and FDA approved cost; the competitive landscape of parties serving that market as well as those currently in PH3 for PC. Lots of factors to weigh!
Bottomline,I rather take the conservative approach and be pleasantly surprised vs debating the subject.
CancerImmun+UTubes+ Asides
Hopefully all of us can put into the remote bin:the potential of partnering on Prostate Cancer. That LP indication is close to 3 yrs ago and has been superceded technologically.
Am sorry I responded to Afford (loose cannon?)that lead us here.
I wrongfully assumed every NWBO investor knew about the remoteness of partnering Prostate Cancer.
Did a quick canvassing of YouTubes (1st visual for me on Les Goldman!) and it's clearly instructive as to why even amongst the professionals, biased views concerning cancer immunology therapy still prevail: that was what they learned in med school...can those dogs be retrained? Some testimonials of cancer survivors;The Truth about Cancer Episdoe#7 (
Our Super Sleuth's GBM Mkt Forecast by GBI Research was posted on YMB.
The NWBO community thanks you for your unceasing diligence!
Acknowledged & Was Aware of Differences.
Thanks for your cogent reply for the benefit of others!
GALLING Bashes by Media+....
Does ANYBODY really seriously believe that
1)Linda Powers Harvard Law School graduate magna cum laude CEO of NWBO and
2)Les Goldman SVP of Business Development also a lawyer from esteemed Skadden, Arps, Slate et al.
would even entertain the thought of doing anything close to SHADY
when they are BOTH heavy artillery lawyers & HAVE SO MUCH AT RISK!!!
Compare that to the slippy, slimy egotistical maniac of a fellow Harvard Law School Graduate: James Cramer of CNBC and TheStreet.com
or that of his friend and fellow Harvard Law School Grad: disgraced enforcer, NYS Governor Eliot Spitzer (coincidentally like Linda Powers also Princeton, Harvard Law & Skadden, Arps, Slate, et al like Les Goldman). Note there is a connection in the negative sense of Cramer clearly and somehow Spitzer being referenced in DesperateCapturedotCom. (Can't remember at this moment!)
Not surprising to me that BOTH Linda Powers & John Eastman have DENIED any paid promotions for writeups... but of course it's buried in the text so most are turned off by the headlines!
BTW Richard Pearson: Paints a good picture but FAILS to follow thru because he could NOT( it would reverse his accusation!) Shorts clearly hired him based on the PAST successes of SA writeups: fortunately I sold GALE in the mid $5's (bought in hi $1's)before RP published; same for BIOL. Bashers are notorious for their spin; innuendos; distortions; needling like a NAG and the advent of social media and seeking alpha are sadly beneficial to short hedgie types given the "limbo -status of NWBO".
Clearly, DCVAX is a game changer and technology disruptor in going against the convention in releasing case studies or partial's. Hopefully each one of us understand why!
Back on topic: These FINDS I've unearthed in Feb when I began adding meaningfully to my NWBO position. IF others had
these as there own Bookmark or Sticky their GPS would be closer versus fumbling-like IMHO: very tricky complex area here!
Sentiment: Suggestion-Edit out John Eastman and just put in LP's statements as this,I believe is the only elaboration of the complex
BASICS of DCVAX! If one chooses to eliminate these 2 suggested stickies it would just engender MORE confusing posts: don't need any more ping pong games!
PS: attempting to add a lot in each post given the daily limit and only adding what I believe IS PRIORITY.
Larry Smith's TURF!
Thanks for your thoughts and suggestion.
IMHO, why "reinvent the wheel" here when few on this board have both the demonstrated experience and exposure of knowing how to effectively deal with high calibre, exceptionally savvy biotech institutional investors in the esoteric arena of biotech investing?
Larry Smith HAS been on the Institutional All Star List in this arena and I would hope would be ready willing and able (possibly
relish the opportunity if he has not done so already) to initiate the process in what I strongly feel is a timely mantra vs dealing with regulators and that whole quagmire!
I had institutional exposure and experience, tho not in the biotech sector.
Elaborate BASICS of DCVAX from CEO
I've found, and hopefully you find the first section of this LP
interview by John Eastman ALWAYS helpful in guiding a serious
NWBO investor thru this evolving complex maze. It's a needed refresher course IMHO:
Perhaps this also needs to be Bookmarked and as a STICKY.
Excerpted, copied and pasted 1st section of LP Interview:
Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NWBO.OB) interview with Linda F. Powers CEO
May 15th, 2012 by John Eastman
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Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NWBO.OB) is a development stage biotechnology company that develops and commercializes immunotherapy products that generate and enhance immune system responses to treat cancer. John Eastman interviewed Linda F. Powers, CEO for this article.
JE: So tell me, how would you distinguish or set apart the type of work that Northwest is doing from others in the industry? What makes the road you’re going down better, or more significant?
LP: Well, I think there are several things that make us different and stronger. For one thing, we have built into our business strategy multiple chances to win. We are pursuing both of the two largest medical markets in the world, the US and Europe, in parallel; what we sometimes refer to as the two continent strategy. Next, we have a product that’s based on a technology platform that we believe will be applicable to basically all solid tumor cancers unlike, for example, targeted therapies for one particular cancer or a couple of particular cancers. This technology and the products based on it should be applicable to basically all solid tumor cancers because of the way that they function. Thirdly, we have developed several complimentary product lines. We have a product line designed to address medical and clinical situations where a patient is having their tumor removed, as well as another product line for situations where the patient is not having their tumor removed, or is not able to. Additionally, we have multiple clinical trials already either completed or underway in multiple different cancers. So the combination of multiple markets, a technology for all the different cancers and embodiment in multiple product lines that cover the different market and clinical situations as well as progress in terms of the development pathway on several of them at once, gives us a very deep pipeline and multiple, I think, differentiators.
JE: So given the known risks, the ups and downs of clinical trials and results, do you feel that the diversity that you have can overcome negative factors, the negative situations that come up doing clinical trials and setbacks?
LP: Yes. We do and it’s not just the diversity although that’s a very important factor too. It’s also the strength and consistency of the performance of this product, this technology. It’s a well known concern – and a legitimate one of investors – that well maybe you have great results in early stage trials but maybe they don’t do as well in the later stage trials. Well, a couple of points about that; firstly, the point that you’ve put your finger on is a very powerful one. The product has performed. DCVax technology has performed consistently across multiple diverse cancers, including primary brain cancer, late stage prostate cancer and metastatic ovarian cancer. Again, these were in small, early stage trials, but there was consistent performance in more than doubling survival time in the patients that received it. That kind of consistency across very diverse cancers is very encouraging. A lot of times you see great results in a few patients and that’s great for them. It’s wonderful. It’s like they won the lottery, but it doesn’t do anything for the rest of the patients. Our product, DCVax has performed consistently across patients as well as across diverse cancers. More than eighty percent, of the patients that have taken DCVax have substantially exceeded standard of care in terms of time to progression, and survival time. We’ve added literally years of extension of time to progression and time to survival. When we come to a later stage trial, (if the results are even a fraction as good), we don’t have to replicate fully the results of the early stage trials. Even get a fraction of that in the later stage trial, that’s a clinical outcome improvement to be approvable.
To put that into concrete terms, as an example in the brain cancer trial, the standard of care, median survival is fourteen months with everything, standard of care, surgery, radiation and chemo. Our patients, and again across all the patients, across all the age groups, genders, whether it was a full resection of the tumor or a partial, whatever their Karnofsky Performance Score (which means their physical condition at the time of surgery), across all of those different patient characteristics, our median survival was three years. That’s such a huge improvement, given that products such as Temodar were approved based on two and a half months of added survival. So from our perspective, if you look across all those factors, we’re very mindful of the common risk of things not going as well in the late stage trials as the early. When you add up all those factors, yes, we think we’re pretty unique in that regard
Here's the link for the full text:
http://www.blackandwhiteprogram.com/interview/northwest-biotherapeutics-inc-nwbo-ob-interview-with-linda-f-powers-ceo
Elaboration on DNDN strategic flaws from CEO!
Much thanks LongUSA for yet another elucidation to ramify and reinforce/add to LP's interview.
IMHO time for a much needed refresher course.
Copied and pasted below in it's entirety:"straight from the horse's mouth" BioMedReports Interview:
MAY BE WORTHY OF A BOOKMARK; STICKY as it is WHY NWBO HAS SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY as well as a fraction of the cost vs that of clearly dethroned and nearing extinction (DNDN's Provenge):
Cancer Vaccines: Northwest Biotherapeutics -vs- Dendreon
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By M.E.Garza
Thursday, 15 July 2010 04:59
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1
As a follow up to our interview with Northwest Biotherapeutics’ (NWBO.OB) Chairman of the Board of Linda Powers, this article focuses on the “hard differentiators” between NWBO’s immunotherapy vaccine platform and that of their closest competitor Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN).
Observers and investors of Northwest Biotherapeutics now believe the company’s DCVax® may be poised to surpass Dendreon’s product in the field of vaccine based cancer treatments. Speculators have begun to rush back to pick up shares of NWBO just as sector darling Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) has lost 44% of its value after news that Dendreon can only make enough of their recently approved prostate cancer drug to treat about 2% of eligible patients.
First factor: The quality and characteristics of the antigens used by both companies in their vaccines
Dendreon uses PAP, while NWBO uses PSMA. Terminology aside, what matters here according to representatives at NWBO is Dendreon’s target antigen is not expressed on all prostrate cancers. They have to screen their patients to see the expression of their target. NWBO’s target antigen is expressed on all prostrate cancers. Additionally, with Dendreon’s target, the level of expression goes down as the cancer progresses. The level of expression on NWBO’s target goes up as the cancer progresses. As we learned from NWBO’s Chairman Linda Powers, if your target is getting harder and harder for the vaccine to find and hit as the cancer progresses, that’s not the characteristic you want in your target antigen.
Another difference in the target antigens is NWBO’s target is bound to the membrane of the tumor cell. “If the DCVax® hits our target,” explains Linda Powers, “it hits the cell for sure. Dendreon’s target is secreted by the cell, so while the target is close by, it is not necessarily bound to the cell in every instance. Antibodies can come along and glom onto to the target and not hit the cell itself, which means accuracy is an issue.
Second factor: The manufacturing and purity of the product
The active ingredient in both companies’ vaccines is dendritic cells. That is an active pharmaceutical ingredient, it’s the active agent that’s doing the job. But according to data provided by Northwest Biotherapeutics, the percentage composition of Dendreon’s product by the company’s own published material is 15% antigen presenting cells -- dendritic cells and others. According to NWBO’s published material, DCVax® is over 80% active ingredient. The official product release criteria are over 80% and Northwest Biotherapeutics’ platform usually hits over 90%, thus the active ingredient in NWBO’s vaccine is much more concentrated.
Third factor: How is the product administered to the patient
According to Powers, because there is such a low percentage of active ingredient in Dendreon’s vaccine, they have to deliver a huge volume, and the only way to do it is intravenous infusion, which is how they deliver Provenge to their patients.
This IV delivery can take over an hour. By contrast, because the active ingredient is so concentrated in the DCVax® vaccine, NWBO only needs to administer a tiny volume of “just a few drops” and it’s administered with a simple injection under the skin, like a flu shot or insulin shot.
As is the case with most medications, where and how a vaccine is administered has a big effect on how well the vaccine can do its job once it’s put into patient’s body. The human body has a blood circulatory system and a lymph circulatory system which is separate and parallel. Dendritic cells do their job in the lymph system, in the lymph nodes.
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According to Powers, Dendreon administers Provenge into the blood vessels, the vasculature, which makes it really hard for their vaccine to do its job, because before their Provenge dendritic cells can get to work, they have to first manage to get out of the blood vessels – which is a highly pressurized system, akin a 5 lane highway in rushhour – they have to get over to the side of the highway, get across the vessel wall and traverse across the tissue to get to where they can find the lymph node where they'll start doing their job. What happens is the majority of dendritic cells are lost along the way. You’re losing a lot of your product, and you’re just making it hard for the dendritic cells to do their job.
By comparison, NWBO administers DCVax® as an injection under the skin, into the tissue, where the dendritic cells normally reside, which is nearby to the lymph nodes, which is where they go to do their job.
Again, how a vaccine is administered has a big effect on helping or hindering the product’s effectiveness in getting the job done.
NWBO’s clinical data shows significantly longer survival times than Dendreon’s and there appears to be a logical basis for that.
BioMedReports: When you talk about how the science works, does it matter whether you’re attacking brain or prostrate – is it basically the same thing?
Northwest Biotherapeutics’ Linda Powers: “Yes. But let me flag one thing: the product version that’s for prostrate cancer is a little bit different than the product version for brain cancer and other cancers. The reason why is in a late stage prostrate cancer patient, you don’t have a tumor. There isn’t a tumor that you can go in and take it out and use that tissue to get the biomarkers and make the vaccine. The course of prostrate cancer disease is you get prostrate cancer in the first place, and then is when you have your surgery, they take the tumor out or they give you those radioactive beads that are implanted in the prostrate. That’s the beginning stage of the disease and the treatment. Then comes a long stage when you take female hormones to cancel out male hormones.
Male hormones are like gasoline on the fire of prostrate cancer. The hormones are enough to keep the cancer contained, it’s a containment strategy. Keep it contained in the prostrate, not let it spread through the body, for anywhere from one to ten years. But sooner or later, pretty much all men fail hormones, and then you become a late stage prostrate cancer patient and that’s where both Dendreon and NW are focused, when the patients are so-called ‘hormone independent’. When the hormones are no longer keeping the cancer in check and it’s starting to spread, and the only way we know that is because the PSA level is rising. You may have some metastasizes you can see on imaging – bone lesions – or you may not. But you don’t have like a focal tumor you can go in and take out and make use it. Therefore the prostrate version of DC Vax is made using a recombinant antigen, the PSMA.
All of the other DC Vax products that have antigens are using a full set of antigens from the patient’s own tumor tissue, not a single antigen that’s made as a recombinant. That’s the difference in the product and the reasons why. But that’s also why it’s so important which antigen you choose, and those kind of characteristics that we talked about – is that antigen expressed on all the prostrate cancer or not? Do you have to screen the patients or not? – your choice of antigen is very important. It’s even more important when you’re only using one antigen than the whole set of antigens.
To your point that this could work for everything -- putting aside the prostrate because that’s a special case because you don’t have a tumor – on the others cancers, where you’re using the biomarkers from the tumor, yes, absolutely. From everything we know about the biology, this same technology, this same product, the educated dendritic cells plus the whole set of antigens, the whole set of biomarkers from the tumor tissue, that should work on any cancer because all you’re doing is restoring the natural function, the natural power of the immune system that the tumor has been suppressing.”
Disclosure: Long NWBO
Monetization of PH3PC avoids capital raise
Clearly an asset looking for monetization thru a partnering/lic
agreement. Securing such would avoid capital raise!
IIRC this was "baggage left from pre LP era".
Surely there are comparable analogies in your "landlording" expertise.
NWBO Marginability/Securing NWBO BAZOOKA(s)!
"I hope you are correct" - Flipper44
IIRC those two firms (Schwab and eTrade) were cited here recently as to the non marginability of NWBO) This was in response to Doktor's posts about vascillating NWBO margin requirements (It changes only when NWBO is deemed a concentrated position meaning representing 50% or 70% of one's portfolio).
"There must be “good" brokerages. Maybe the rest will follow?" - Flipper44
Having a stock loan dept is a high margin business:
For each share of stock that is margined the brokerage charges margin interest for stock purchased on margin while for the same
share it can be loaned out for shorts! TWO ways of making money on the same instrument!
As I discovered early today(see Post 15416) Larry Smith recently disclosed he was shocked at seeing how good clinical data gets a clobbering of it's stock price... "This conspiracy is incredibly broad and pervasive. It affects not just NWBO, but probably tens of hundreds of companies. We have some incredibly greedy hedge funds making huge sums of money be defrauding legitimate investors and greatly harming or sometimes destroying small entrepreneurial companies. The game is rigged and I must admit that I am discouraged. Yes, I am trying to get regulators and law enforcement people involved"
My thoughts on shortie's modus operandi:
Certain short hedgie's sensing a lack of institutional interest will sell short close to the intraday high's of a retail run on corporate news and invariably watch it retrace a large amount of it's gain or more! Then they have hit pieces that spin and distort or call into question anything cited and see their media network in action! This is done to capitalize on a potential high rate of return. However with growing institutional interest one may not see as much of a retracement.
While Larry Smith undertakes the above I think his time would be far more productive and it would be less time consuming and he's clearly adept at securing some bazooka's on NWBO's side to level the playing field
To deal with these illegal naked shorts, having a bazooka like a Baker Bros comes in handy! They can accumulate a fairly decent position without moving the stock and not having to wait for the next capital raise which in all liklihood will be higher. Baker Bros has a sterling reputation as a biotech visionary $mgr way ahead of the curve, thinking out of the box and act as a LONG TERM biotech investor that build sizeable positions to merit a Board position on it's portfolio holdings!
There are others aside from Baker Bros that I deem appropriate.
PH3 Prostate Cancer trial designed and approved by FDA has been available for partnering for at least the last 5? years AFAIK.
It will cost at least $50 mln to undertake.
Strategically obvious why it's being offered.
Really jogging that noggin and doing a reconstruct here:
This makes the most sense to me-
"Dark Pools" are UNregulated to remain inconspicious! are are therefore developing sideshows of NYSE or NASDAQ.Their modus
operandi is invest heavily in software/servers etc to get a technology edge. They need to really CRANK UP the volume to
sustain institutional visibility especially for the super active hedgies. Since the naked short selling law was updated last (2009) illegal naked short selling has to face delivery of shares no more than 4 days based on a quick read. PERHAPS it's the business need of these Dark Pools to provide service to the need for their customer (active short hedgies) by cranking up VOLUME where they fabricate shs hoping? lower price when need to deliver those shares.
Pls recognize any of the above may be subject to revision as this has been a DARK AREA for me: until this NWBO situation and reading thru DesperateCapturedotcom did it remind me of what I went thru!(pre 1990 when it was sub rosa!)
BTW on your AMTRD acct: Glad you admitted recently that there were no changes in the margin requirements for NWBO!
Clearly those firms that lend out their customers shares do it as a KEY profit center for the firm. A brokerage firm makes it money from any type of underwriting; trading volume thru all sorts of security instruments and stock loan; interest income (from margin accts). As I recall, the stock loan department for the defunct Bear Stearns was one of it's biggest profit centers: Bear Stearns even offered office space to active hedgies. Perhaps the SEC and regulators turn a blind eye politically since there is so much money generated until the recent events of Barclays found along with others of rigging LIBOR rates; FX currencies etc which are many magnitudes over that of naked short sales. That's my intrepretation (subject to refinement).
Comments recently that Charles Schwab;eTrade; does not allow NWBO shrs to be marginable is to protect their customers from biotec violatility and margin liquidations.
Incisive ? Only Instl Traders will have answer IMHO.
Just like the retail public typically see OTC Level 2, there are many other levels which ONLY an institutional trader on the institutional desk has access to. The "Dark Pool"sadly provides yet another level of subversion having recently identified to be Barclays; various Swiss banks etc. These Dark Pools receive thru parties only known to those market makers the source of these hedgie shorts. Perhaps Googling will help expand the knowledge base here: haven't done it myself yet!
When ILLEGAL NAKED SHORT SELLING ramps up as it is beginning to,
it could easily be a MULTIPLE of the real outstanding shares. Overstock.com may have been one of many examples.
Once the hedgie shorts want to test the waters of pushing it down more like yesterday I'd surmise they enter an offering for say 200K shares and a buyer took it!
Lots of cat and mouse games played when institutionally trading takes place especially in this period of News Void.
Larry Smith's supportive views:
Posted on his website July 8 report:
Responding to Serious Unsubstantiated Allegations by Richard Pearson
In the comments section:
Larry Smith says:
July 9th, 2014 at 6:38 am
Thank you. When I started writing on small companies, I was quite naive. I was and am mesmerized by the technology and having lived through the whole biotechnology revolution (back to the early 80s), I was very much aware of the risks and rewards. I thought that there was asymmetric potential in many stocks that offered a high reward high risk opportunity. Most of all, I thought that it was a pure issue of science and clinical trials. However, I began to see peculiar trading patterns as stocks would trade passively for a while, release positive information and then get clobbered. I have done extensive work on the practices of the hedge funds. It is amazing what you can find on the internet. In my opinion, there appears to be a cabal of hedge funds who band together to manipulate opinion (not necessarily illegal) and manipulate trading (definitely illegal). This conspiracy is incredibly broad and pervasive. It affects not just NWBO, but probably tens of hundreds of companies. We have some incredibly greedy hedge funds making huge sums of money be defrauding legitimate investors and greatly harming or sometimes destroying small entrepreneurial companies. The game is rigged and I must admit that I am discouraged. Yes, I am trying to get regulators and law enforcement people involved.
I have seen firsthand exactly what Larry Smith conveys above
THIS IS WHY we need first and foremost
NWBO News of Substance
AND some Gorilla's to deal with these PIRANANS that are poisoning the financial system: This vast network is also responsible according to DeepCapture chronicles of taking the US and the world to the EDGE in 2008!
Naked Short Network INCLUDES MEDIA+
Concur with your observations of FB key editor is good buddy with distortionist AF'stein. One only has to look at the views expressed by FB on NWBO: re MD Anderson incident.
Sadly many so called "journalists" at one point in their careers were affiliated with TheStreet.com! ie Herb Greenberg formerly of CNBC who's relocated back to SoCal but is still a CNBC contributor IIRC:http://www.cnbc.com/id/16223136
MONEY and influence along with corruption as profiled in DeepCapture.com even to high levels of the SEC.... sadly nurture their close to 40 yrs of existence.
Winning against these evil forces aside from the obvious: CONVINCING DATA should hopefully involve movers of the Biotech landscape seeing what we see and a track record of thinking out of the box! As naked shorting has ballooned, those large size buyers can effectively accumulate an NWBO position (witnessed by the first large accumulation in yesterday's over $1 Mln trade!) and not have to wait for the next capital raise!
Yesterdays over $1 mln trade certifies institutional interest.
Perhaps it's Baker Bros?
Regardless one should never be complacent when dealing with
the just announced larger legal short interest! and the deep
dark evils of RISING illegal NAKED shorts.
Short hedgies will stop at nothing!! They are precluding
any potential interest by the investing public in NWBO
by their successful campaign of plastering the news with innuendoes etc.
No one should underestimate the depths of their arsenal.
IMHO, Flipper hopefully pursues my suggestion of Larry Smith
calling Baker Bros: nothing to lose, all to gain.see post 15314
NWBO is scaling that mfg challenge with confidence based on my recollection of LP's recent mfg comments since late '13.
The DRG survey confirms the industry's key concern is the ability to mfg personalized vaccines on a commercial scale. Moreover, the FBVaccines article did support what I posted the night before: post #15314.
DNDN's strategic missteps have clearly left a black mark.
DNDN's mfg delay's; high mfg cost and inability to scale resulted in the tsunami of both too high and uncompetitive selling costs for Provenge; reimbursement issues AND with those delays allowed JNJ and MDVN to enter and now dominate the prostate cancer field.
Thanks LongUSA; Steppenwolf and Flipper.
Highly commendable find by first two posters and erudite insights by Flipper. The unique and IP'ed manufacturing process along with the economics were the last remaining element for me to build my NWBO position. And the genesis for that resided in a published LP interview done IIRC 2 yrs ago where Linda's autopsy on DNDN cited the myriad of cascading deficiencies that plagued DNDN AFTER FDA approval. And Cognate has, I would believe, many customers beyond just NWBO in serving the incubating stem cell industry. Why do you think NVTS bought 18 mos ago DNDN's new mfg facility for $43 mln in NJ!and then recently swapped $15 bln of assets with GSK to build their oncology franchise to finally launch against their Basel neighbor: Roche the kingpin. IMHO one could count on one's hands who has the captive mfr capability for this emerging niche. Most all immuno cancer therapy co's resort to contract mfrs due to the large capital outlay and not knowing whether their clinicals will succeed.
My brainstorm for Flipper, the resident NWBO maven:
Since hedgie NWBO shorts are not picking on someone their own size (they never have IMHO!): Let's get a more level playing field. Surely NWBO and it's proponents are being unfairly slandered, maligned with blows below the belt line; with clearly NO help from any media source and the shares have been pummeled since mid March:(6 mln LEGAL shorts and the grand daddy of all: a reported 6-7 mln ILLEGAL naked short shares!)
The following is a WIN! WIN proposal for ALL parties IMHO:
Would you, Flipper, as the resident NWBO maven, have any reservations in your acknowledged exchanges with Larry Smith, suggest that Larry, given his institutional experience and exposure, make an institutional call to "those typically ahead of the biotech curve": Baker Bros (Felix is an Immunologist Phd Stanford Univ grad!plus 2 yrs med school; very early on DNDN and were largest holder and battled the naked shorts; also http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligence/stock-watch-the-fabulous-baker-brothers/77899989/ ; Orbimed (Sam Isaly); both in NYC and a few others in Boston that I have in mind. This IMHO is SORELY NEEDED and TIMELY in view of the growing 7+mln illegal naked shorts and the apparent imminence of possible key NWBO announcements.
A WIN! WIN! for the Davids of the world (retail shareowners; NWBO as the emerging technology disruptor vs the Goliaths (Big Rx; corrupt hedgies and their vast network!)
The prime beneficiaries are cancer patients and importantly lowering inflated healthcare costs in terms of outlay and dispensing with chemo costs and side effects.
OTHERWISE: Will Justice Prevail?
Unfolding of Post 14939: DARK SEMBLANCE of pre FDA approval of Provenge....
1. Larry Smith is a rare bird and "elder statesman of the defunct Smith Barney: "Research, we do it the old fashion way, we earn your money and your business". I met him for the concluding interview to be hired in the mid '80s. In reading his most recent all encompassing reply that someone furnished, I was graphically reminded how VICIOUS short sellers have always been: when it comes to MONEY just like Jim Cramer's admission they will not stop and will STOOP to the lowest of the low (threats to LS of throwing him out of the business or character assassination via Richard Pearson). Nothing is beyond them since everyone has a price which is how they have influential Drs. deeply involved in clinical trials to illegally give them a glimpse of the final PH3 trial (how SAC avoided losing hundreds of millions of $'s re Elan that was part of a multi-year SEC investigation that is wrapping up). Hedge funds have a major impact on Wall St as they account for a very large % of the daily trading activity and they used to get the first call.
MAKE SURE YOU READ DEEPCAPTUREdotcom.
2. Since I did not want to SCARE this board, I was gentle on my comments concerning illegal naked shorting which deep down I had a growing sense of it ballooning. Now Larry Smith has confirmed it: traders indicate maybe 6-7 million NWBO naked short shares!
3.There would appear to be institutional buying over the last 2 wks!Clearly the character and complexion of how NWBO trades has changed!
4.Possibly unfolding is the IBB index beginning it's second correction after a heady run. Despite the well orchestrated hit by Richard Pearson, NWBO shrs did admirably. NWBO might avoid this 2nd correction IF LP et al issues over the next 6 wks more Direct results or L trial updates as it relates to Germany, UK that meets with investor's favor to begin frying the shorts, maybe a capital raise could be done that would be less dilutive and attract some of the savvy biotech funds like Baker Bros etc.(my first post# 14922: Clearing the Air and Food for Thought)
5.Until the science is sufficiently documented, NWBO and shareholders will be engaging in AN EPIC BATTLE with Hedgies.
6.IF you've come this far, you're a DIEHARD!
Clearly daily volume has been well above average.
This is an exceedingly complex area dealing with way too many variables. In watching the trading activity accelerate one has
to wonder where this selling shares are coming from: especially on the AF manipulation day as well as last Friday. You may recall someone posting 2 million naked shares sold (which is ILLEGAL)which is what happened to DNDN pre-FDA approval (may have been ongoing naked short sales with fails to deliver that persisted for a period of years(not certain since I was not involved: the DNDN lengthy saga portrayed on top tab on DesperateCapturedotcom may better answer that! as I haven't read it all!). Only when you see NWBO on the SHO list on a consistent daily basis and when a size purchaser demands delivery and it goes unfilled (Fail to Deliver)for sometimes a week or more would be verification. Clearly there have at least a few postings showing the dramatic change of significantly lesser shares available to short in the past few weeks is indeed a tell tale sign!
As to your max 22 mln shrs being exercised: highly improbable IMHO. Even if it were 4-5mln shs that would amount to ~$20 to $25 mln in proceeds to NWBO and would go a long way.
First and foremost, would welcome any further inputs as the validity of the logic I presented.
Hope that helps!
Dark Semblance HERE w/pre FDA approval of Provenge!
Suggest everyone do their own DD by exploring DeepCapturedotcom to see the depths to which corruption have eery parallels here. We saw firsthand what AF recently orchestrated. Unlikely others have witnessed this firsthand like I have. No small coincidence that Steve A. Cohen of SAC Capital which is mentioned going back 15 yrs AGO as well as DH Blair! Blinder Robinson etc, etc are one of many cited in this MASSIVE EXPOSE: it was a real eye opener for me when I found the time last week to read this highly credible, voluminous undertaking of altruists! a present day David vs Goliath struggle against even the SEC; Wall St;very deep pocketed network.
LP and Les hopefully should be made aware of this!!
Why Institutional Interest is Low(a mere 13%): But could grow EXPONENTIALLY?
FYI I just started posting in YMB under alias truthseruumm on the topic:(edited with some additions!)
Why doesn't Baker Bros own NWBO?
I also have wondered about that for many months.
Same also for those other savvy biotech sleuths.
My thought process which I think you'll find valid:
1)Blighted by DNDN (Baker Bros was a key holder early on); followed by Dec '13 debacle of IMUC data.
Important Additional Note:
IMPERATIVE that one understands as investors all the things different that NWBO does vs their ill fated sisters: IMUC and notably DNDN (run by Mitch Gold who coincidentally was previously the CEO of a company I owned in 2002(techwreck mkt then) who fortunately sold their hospital software w/wireless apps to GE Healthcare unit). I've done my long legwork DD here.
2)Only want biotechs with many targeted indications in large mkt opportunities.
3)Turblent past where if not for LP et al,NWBO would be bankrupt
4)View of LP et al owning 39%
5)Size of past NWBO offering perhaps not offering sufficient liquidity re daily trading
AND
6)Although DCVAX L currently BLINDED, IF Institutions would logically juxtapose FDA's revised view of Cancer Immunotherapy along with the revamped rules towards the possibility of accelerated approval along the lines of iHub & Seeking Alpha contributor Pyrrhonian, then it would be a blessing since institutions own 88% of Celldex(vs our 13%. Celldex has a market capitalization at least 4.5X that of NWBO where their lead pdt is really only addressing 25% of the brain cancer therapy market and their GBM trial is expected to end much later!
7)Backgrounds of mgt team has a bearing on % institutional ownership: case in point Celldex management primarily from Medarex that sold to Bristol Myers (not surprisingly CLDX's new partner!)
8)Despite the above, the time is rapidly approaching IMHO as I saw that happen where my stake in Omeros in the last year went from $4 to $18 with Baker Bros partaking late last year when a large block became available. Similarly with my stake over the last 18 mos in Anika Therapeutics where institutional ownership was close to 10% when I bought @ $10 and is now $46 with instl ownership now 70%+.
CONCLUSION: Stars are becoming aligned... ALL it takes IMHO is one or two institutions to be buying on the open market: as the shorts
are seemingly at the end of their rope (except for illegal naked shorting).
Next capital raise should be strictly institutional catering to: ie: Baker Bros; Fidelity;OrbiMed;Jennison; etc (and EXCLUDE short hedgy types) unlike that of Nov/Dec '13 secondary with Oppenheimer's retail reps unloading!on or just after Germany
P.I.E announcement that caused the first crater.
Clearing the Air and Food for Thought.....
Thoroughly enjoyed the value of certain iHub NWBO members which I've monitored since building a position in NWBO (Feb '14) that ie is on par with Sentiment; Afford etc. Since I am limited to a few posts initially here are my observations that may be food for thought:
As an investor, there is never enough time to cover it all (Monetary policy; status of global economic engines; geopolitics; problems with the US economy etc) let alone for NWBO!
With my 15 yrs of research on Wall St (even presenting successful shorts to large dedicated short selling hedge funds) every investor SHOULD thoroughly read and digest all SEC filings.
When this is done, IMHO one would not generate conspiracy theories on NWBO especially given what LP et al has monumentally done in the last decade or so. LP clearly understands the ultra competitive need to survive and is sensitive to disclosure given the power of short sellers when institutional ownership is low. Postings citing Linda Powers, Toucan, Cognate are sellers/ripping off shareholders have no basis(see below). The investment process as it relates to biotecs is exceedingly complex as it stands, and complicated by the readings of deepcapture.com, compounded by inaccuracies/taking statements out of context/death by a thousand cuts by bloggers as AF with deep affiliations who appear exceedingly desperate lately to enact such major NWBO market manipulations IMHO. To withstand these tidal waves (in the clear absence of NWBO press releases) one needs to be thoroughly versed and up to date in SEC filings, rather than add more UNNEEDED fuel for currently desperate shorts or the motivations of Dr. Buzman and MD Anderson. And the most comprehensive single source IMHO is Nasdaq.com as it relates to 10K(aka annual Bible); 10Q; Def14(Proxy); Short Interest (think it's 7 days after 15th/30th of each month); Institutional Ownership (mininum 6 wks lag from closing qtr); AH trading etc.
Trade news and progress on clinical developments is KEY. I've delved into all those private companies before csf dialysis (Dan)mentioned them here recently.Clearly Dan knows the landscape.
Friday ~8.9 Mln shr VOLUME (AH's too) :
My sense is positive that this much volume is in much stronger hands!Indexers only sell materially if we see an implosion of L and Direct trials, So the institutional ownership zoomed (ALL CASH and NOT BORROWABLE BY SHORTS!). Only question which needs exploring is:
1)Was it LP et al (Highly unlikely IMHO)
(From pg 19 of SEC 10K: As of February 28, 2014, Toucan Capital and its affiliates (including Cognate BioServices, Toucan Partners and Linda Powers, who also serves as our Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Board of Directors), collectively, owned an aggregate of 20,489,355 shares of our outstanding common stock, representing approximately 39% of our issued and outstanding common stock on that date). Also remember reading that there is a lock up agreement thru early 2016 with LP et al.
2) then who were the institutional sellers?
As of March 31, '14 ~7.2 mln NWBO shs were held institutionally.
A total of ~8.9 mln shs traded Friday (includes 2.4 mln AH).
Doesn't appear likely this would account for it as Franklin Resources, the single largest known holder or any other institutional shareholder would have fundamental reasons to liquidate their NWBO holdings IMHO.
3)The last NWBO offering (4/14) purportedly to deep pocketed Susquehanna Intl Holdings (Big Cap Options mktmkr for Google & others!), who likely added substantially to it's holdings (not verifiable till~2nd wk in Aug '14) and was a key DNDN stakeholder way back. Contained in this last prospectus:
22,550,011 shares of our common stock that have been reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants at a weighted average exercise price of $5.10 per share. So effectively this is the largest pool available to account for the 8.9 mln shares traded on Friday. My sense is certain large holders after seeing NWBO's inclusion to two Russell Indexes may have exercised and make $! This makes the highest sense of all 3 possibilities outlined above.
Thanks to Evaluate for another of his proliferate findings on Dr. Keith Black, a titan of a contributor to the science of cancer immunotherapy.
From the below "footnotes", the following are my initial impressions: Although Dr. Black trained Dr. Linda Liau and submitted papers with her, it's clear she has come a long way and perhaps has stolen the spotlight being the Principal Investigator behind DCVAX L as well as:
1)She is Vice Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the UCLA Brain Tumor Program at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
2) member of the Executive Committee of the Tumor Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
3) Vice Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Brain Tumor Society
4)Scientific Advisory Boards of the Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research,
5)Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology.
And another substantiation is Dr. Keith Black's affiliation with the failings of IMUC 107 as Dr. Black was associated with CEO John Yu since 2000 and Dr. Black was the FOUNDER(along with Dr. John Yu)of IMUC and former Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board of IMUC back in 2006 which apparently disbanded?
Hopefully you find the above helpful.
And much thanks for the leading edge education I received especially from: Pyrrhonian; Flipper44;Evaluate; BioInfo; longusa; john1045; redbarron; Reefrad; ShinSekai; iclight.........
Footnotes from voluminous pdf of Dr. Keith Black:
pg 2
Head, UCLA Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program
UCLA Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA 1991-1997
Director, Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program
Department of Surgery
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA 1997-Present
pg 3
Founder and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
Immunocellular Therapeutics 2006
pg15 CLINICAL AND RESEARCH FELLOWS TRAINED:
Linda Liau, M.D. 1995-1997
Keith L. Black, M.D.
Curriculum Vitae
Page 23 of 88
Faculty Sponsor- (John Yu)
Active Immunotherapy for Glioblastoma
National Institutes of Health (1K23NS02232-01)
$608,445 2000-2005
pg 34
116. Liau LM, Fakhrai H, Black KL: Prolonged survival of rats with intracranial C6 gliomas by treatment with TGF-beta antisense gene. Neurol Res. 20(8):742-747, 1998
119. Liau LM, Black KL, Prins RM, Sykes SN, DiPatre PL, Cloughesy TF, Becker DP, Bronstein JM: Treatment of intracranial gliomas with bone marrow-derived dendritic cells pulsed with tumor antigens. J Neurosurg. 90:1115-1124, 1999. (selected as cover illustration)
124. Liau L, Black KL, Martin N, Sykes S, Brownstein J, Jouben-Steele L, Mischel P, Belldegrun A, Cloughesy T: Treatment of a Glioblastoma by Vaccination with Autologous Dendritic Cells Pulsed with Allogeneic Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I-Matched Tumor. Neurosurg Focus. 9(6): 1- 5, 2000