Not an expert on shorting but my understanding is shorts / naked shorts only have to cover when NWBO is acquired and all open trades need to be closed out. However until then and in the meantime they are taking on high risk at this low PPS and paying a high borrowing rate, ie XX%. When news breaks out and a sustained upswing in price is clear, they will want to cover and reshort later or not.

Hodge, Very well said.

I agree. A PR was warranted due to the aggressive drop in stock price, regardless of sequence or timing of a financing occurring. Basically an over 50% over a 6-8 week period is severe and if sustained over a long period of time, it does matter in substance. Good long term investors might capitulate resulting in an increased mix/proportion of "traders" instead, and perception of something being wrong could turn into a reality if potential investors and patients take on the view "where there's smoke there must be fire". IMO there is just continued manipulation and naked shorting going on. So putting out an interim progress update PR is the smart thing to do.

Thanks Flipper. That was an inspirational 50 second video.

For any tectonic plate shifting, disruptive technology, that leapfrogs mankind from the current SOC for GBM or any glioblastoma of brute force chemo / radiation onto a potential cure, onto an autologous treatment platform that uses your own immune system where the only side effect is a mild fever, to cure and save lives, you've got to have guts, gonads, and lots of optimism. Painful disclosure: my guts and gonads got a beating these last couple of weeks, but I never let go of my optimism! I feel NWBO is doing the right thing for society, patients, and us shareholders, where time will tell. IMHO

Red, Hope you get well soon. In case this is helpful where the cause of energy loss remains an unknown, consider looking around your environment for changes, ie mold/mildew, exposed chemicals. This may sound too simple, much to my autologous approach to health, but during this interim time try to get enough fresh air, some sun, eat natural/organic, and exercise. The bright side to a short term illness is that if you take on an additional healthy habit in response, that lasts a lifetime.

The stock being down sharply these last few weeks and closing at $4.00/sh today is definitely a loss for us longs, but if the reason is a net increase in # of shares shorted, then there will be a compensating (squeeze) pendulum swing later. That is why it is best to ignore these temporary price manipulations and be in the game when the price moves bubbly up later.

Agree. The additional financing seems normal to me as well. It's good to see money raised for expansion and growth into EU. With near term cash concerns removed as an obstacle, the runway is clear for acceleration. A positive.

I suspiciously think the AF & bandits are trying to rapidly bring the price of stock down to possibly disrupt the equity financing prior to closing, ie scare investor or to renegotiate terms.

Thx Flipper. Ha I was thinking Fahrenheit not Celsius. That makes sense now.

I'm wondering how to reconcile the normal fever one gets when one's body is fighting a sickness vs the DCVAX treatment of negligible fever of at most 2 degrees. Any help?

Well said and expresses what I always fuzzily thought. Credit goes to LP because for a company, compassion has to come from the top.

I guess I am more comfortable than you wrt the "potential" risk of Cognate overcharging NWBO due to LP's conflict of interest situation. This is how I look at it:

1. The only way to avoid it is to go use another vendor. That is a big risk because with hindsight, Cognate delivered! We got manufacturing approvals in the USA, Germany, and UK in a timely and efficient way. I suppose we indirectly protected our intellectual property in the process too from too many eyes. I'm willing to pay a premium for that.

2. The price of raising $1 in the open market to pay for such manufacturing fees to a new vendor in cash might be more expensive than the risk of being overcharged some nominal %. I am thinking, Investment Banker fees 7%, discount on the stock price to new investors 10%, and giving them warrants at 30% coverage. Also what impact does having to raise 2X the amount of cash we actually did raise in the open market on the SP? More headlines... Then there is the manipulation from shorts who will take advantage of all these new shares and warrants in float to drive the price down, 10%, 20%?

I agree we won't see any of the law firms "investigating" NWBO for unethical activity to put out a PR just because no plaintiffs have come forward to-date. However if there really is no formal suit, then NWBO could let everyone know that there has been none. Possibly putting out a PR of such might be a jinx but mentioning it to an analysts like Larry Smith or at a presentation might be a simple thing to get the word out.

It seems we don't have much coverage from investment analysts. The only ones I see are Summer Street (Buy) and Oppenheimer (Perform) on Yahoo Finance and of course Smith on Stocks (Buy).

A buy recommendation from a new reputable one and their assessment would go a long way with retail and institutional investors. They should easily see through and discount the publicity stunts of AF and attorneys, and possibly the large short interest would present a huge undervaluation opportunity in their view to do well.

Anybody know a good analyst? (I say this facetiously because I know it is LP's and a CFO's job to search them out, and LP has more important priorities now - revenue and clinical trials).

No better time than now to interject a thanks to all the contributors, especially Flipper, Pyrr, Dok, Long, Evaluate, Xena. In case you don't know, I'm reading and appreciating.

Since the timeline to L data is pushed out, it is good to understand what we can look forward to in the next 3 to 6 months. A quote from Pyrrhonian:

TOB - How do you know AF is on vacation and where? Are you related?

Out of curiosity, you are moderator of 11 boards on IHub. I can only imagine that requires an almost full time effort on your part.

Evaluate - Thanks for this great find.

I am surprised about how long quality control takes. Wouldn't the majority quality control be with the production of the vaccine and only minor QC testing on the final product? This QC testing time could be an additional factor why Direct injections are taking awhile.

Pyrr - Very nice article!

Sentiment: Very nice analogy. Let's see the NWBO story play out this way over the next couple of weeks.

Afford - The fallacy to AF's article on the 28% tumor reduction equating to no-efficacy is this:

1. Tumor size and reduction is not a valid measure when the trial is not complete yet, particularly when patients have not even received the full set of treatments. The reason is during the initial stage, when the T-cells (B-cells, macrophages, etc) are fighting the cancer, the tumor will actually increase in size because T-cells are stuffing themselves inside the tumor. It is only afterwards when the dead cancer cells are cleansed away that the tumor size will shrink. The fighting is still in process.

2. Tumor necrosis, on the other hand, can present a snapshot view of biological activity or efficacy. The measurement process though would be based on doing a biopsy to determine whether or not the tumor contents indeed include T-cells (active) and cancer cells (dead). Tumor size does not show this.

Dok - Done. I deleted the Yahoo MB post and posted a new one instead.

Ou - Hilarious... a discussion with AF, biker story style. That would be one helluva Doktor visit.

It seems from this video and my interpretation is that naked short sellers that do not deliver sold shares to buyers can't lose.

- If the company being shorted goes bankrupt (the PPS drop kills a bank loan covenant or pending financing)- they cover at $0.
- If the company continues as most do and there is never any reconciliation, except in the case of M&A or going private, then they can delay covering forever and hold onto the cash forever. That also means an unlimited supply of cash.
- Reg Sho can force a delivery, after which the naked shorts can just rinse-repeat. Inbetween, they fund the delivery by the cash from naked shorting another victim company.

On the topic of removing shares from the shorting pool:

Despite naked shorting, there are a number of legal shorts and within that category are layers or %'s of legal shorts that are nervous, ready to cover, or confident. We don't have to change the world of naked shorting or the landscape with the little immediate effect Yahoo MB collaboration, just kick off a small chunk of snow from the top of the mountain and watch to see if it turns into a self building snowball with a lot of momentum.

Let's not lose sight of this fact - when good news hits, there WILL be a short squeeze, DESPITE the existence of naked short sellers.

Sharpie - Nice Job! And thanks for sharing the info on Merrill Edge.

Pyrr -

It is still very early yet and response small still, but after posting the goals of Dok/myself onto the yahoo MB on 5/23/14 on Friday at 4pm (right after mkt close, Memorial weekend) the Collaborate to Remove Shares Available to Short message, I've already got 10 thumbs up within 1 day plus several replies from investors indicating they'll take action.

Remember there were only 55K shares available to be shorted on as of 5/22/14, not a lot of shares for retail investors to "take off the table". I wouldn't be surprised if Shorts used up all those shares Friday fighting the price spike, and there would be 0 shares available for them to short.(!!!) And we still got a 5% PPS increase. LOL. If so, any shares removed from the pool available to shorts, creates a short squeeze for that number of shares. 1 large retail investor taking this very minimal effort / action that does not require spending money only 5 minutes, can make a difference.

Timing can make a difference too - if PR's, Direct results, an excellent article from you posted on SA , and the efforts of hard working investors removing shares from the pool fall into place, that can be the first domino or the 2nd wind in a short squeeze. I choose to knock the shorts off the shorts, as they have chosen to short cancer patients and small retail investors.

You could be right too. As in investing as in life, who knows for sure about anything. I could be talking to myself this whole time for all I know. I hope I'm logged into the real IHUB site. I only believe I own the NWBO stock because I see it says so on my computer screen. That had better be a legitimate site. Regardless I still have to believe. I believe we all contribute, each in our own small way, and together in a big way.

ou - Regarding:

With good news, I think the dynamics change, so I don't think the immediate reaction would be to sell some stock. I agree if one is over-allocated and the SP goes up without news. Then yes, sell some, but if NWBO presents 2 more case studies of different cancers and patients showing tumor necrosis and systemic tumor regression, then NWBO just became a different type of investment and justifies a larger allocation within my portfolio, IMO. The concept being that if my allocation goal is 5% extremely speculative, 15% speculative, 20% small cap growth, and 60% mid/large equities, for example, then NWBO just moved into a speculative category for a 3X larger allocation. So where, I may have been overallocated originally, with good news that may no longer be the case. If we get guidance on German revenues this year, then it could even move into the small cap growth category. Of course this is a very subjective matter.

BJoe: Thanks for the research. Either Optionhouse, Ameritrade, and Smith Barney all have different rules for how they govern the # of shares they loan out or we got a similar situation to the Too Big To Fail one, where a Too Big To Know What the Hell is Going On Even Though I Work Here situation is going on. Troublesome. Like you say, it seems a no margin account is safest.

Sentiment:

Thanks for the feedback and highlighting 2 ways to fight shorts and bump up the price next week.

1. Charles Schwab. It sounds like the same as the Etrade policy. In effect => do not borrow money (no margin) on your brokerage account (cannot have even a penny owed, algorithm driven) => this removes shares your broker can lend out.

2. Buying stocks is another way to fight shorts. (ie with cash or allocating more of investment diversification into NWBO)

I assume your comment on this collaboration plan not working refers to the likelihood and assumption that investors on this MB are 1) on margin + will not let go and 2) possibly most true longs are powder dry or are already over-allocated in NWBO. Possible, likely a % are, but I guess not more than half. At only 55,000 shares available to short, short on ammunition, short on morals, short on curing patients with cancer, and soon to be short on shares to short, I believe even 1 investor with the means and the will can make that happen.

Retired: That is interesting, don't know why.

If my shares sold for $150/sh each, I would not worry about what tax rate I was paying. I would be thinking diversification. Because diversification keeps a rich man rich and a poor man poor. I am trying to move from the level of long-time biotech investor poor to diversification rich.

Dok: I just posted the call for action on the yahoo MB. "Collaborate to Remove Shares Available to Short" I rushed it but let's see the response.

Have a great weekend!

I just called my Etrade broker and he said that
- as long as I have even $1 borrowed on margin, then all the shares on my account can be loaned out. If I cover my margin to $0, then Etrade will not loan any shares. You can have a margin account (to be clear, not a problem), just be borrowing $0. Then everyday they will adjust their loan shares available.
- He never heard of putting in a sell order of shares (also took awhile to explain) at a high price. He had to go ask someone else. He came back and said, that is irrelevant, doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that you have $0 on margin.
- He had no idea if this is Etrade policy only or if other industry brokers have the same practice.

On posting this to yahoo mb, OK I'll post first and have you add on to that discussion.

Tzor: Do you know or can confirm that if someone has a margin account and puts in a sell order at say $70/sh, would that remove the shares from the available to short pool, or if contacting your brokerage is an additional needed step? Or possibly all of this is dependent on the policies of each individual brokerage house?

Short cover calls makes sense as a term but for us who don't short, that means shorts get a notice that they need to cover from their broker (leading to a short squeeze), like a margin call where more of us are familiar with but in the reverse direction.

Dok: I would assume shorts get 3 days to cover, not 1 day, basing that on other trades get 3 days to fund at least on Etrade. Timing exercise: So if we put in an order to sell our shares today (to remove them from shares available to be lent out to shorts), then that reduced short shares available would be recognized at end of day today. This Tuesday, shorts get a notice from their broker that they get 3 days to cover, which means by Friday.

Anyway, I did my part already, today.

Dok: Interesting... Etrade had rejected my original $100/sh sell order and accepted $80, as I said. However I just went to do the same in my Roth account (still with Etrade), the $80 was rejected now. Possibly they have algorithms on shares they have lent out, and are reaching their limit? Anyway I had to settle for putting in an order at $70/sh.

Dok: I just got my sell order at $100/sh rejected by Etrade - "Your order was placed too far away from the market price."

However they are accepting my $80/sh sell order. Maybe they too are assessing the 60 day potential of NWBO... LOL

Great point - If enough of us on this IHUB board put in sell orders for shares, that would reduce or put into a negative the available shares to short. A negative would mean, short get a notice to cover because the shares shorted were recalled. Given today there are only 55,000 shares available to short, it would be relatively easy put that number negative. Could we force a squeeze? Interesting, is it possible for us, mere retail investors to finally exact some revenge, I mean justice to the share price?

Whose on board? I just did.

Dok: There seems to be other ways of preventing your shares from being lent out to shorts by your broker, though am summarizing only what I gather on yahoo mb.

1. "my understanding is once you place an order to sell that your shares will not be loaned out and if they were loaned out beforehand, the loan will be withdrawn - no matter if your sell order is far from the market price."

2. "It depends if you hold your shares in a margin account or not. If not held in a margin account the broker is not allowed to loan your shares out. If held in a margin account you may be able to indicate the you do not wish to loan your shares out. Contact your broker/financial institution and confirm."

I may put in a order to sell my shares at $50 / sh. Is that too low you think?

More likely than shorts on vacation, the shorts just ran out of shares available to short and manipulate the PPS with. Yahoo poster Pfort1 said yesterday: "Interactive Brokers report only 85,000 shares of NWBO are available to short as of now. Lendable stock still paying 21%." Today that is updated to only 55,000 shares. They just ran out of ammunition.

My revised speculation on timing of PR's - NWBO released their case study trial on on 5/15/14, a Thursday. I have always been of the mindset that a Monday release is the best day to do a positive PR, for PPS impact.

Could the mindset at the company instead be that a Thursday PR release gets a price jump on Friday plus a weekend to let the seeds of greed take root? If so, then I expect a PR release tomorrow, Thursday and one more Friday, since we have a 3 day weekend coming up.

Just like in a clinical trial, a press release strategy for primary PPS results could be: if the 1 PR injection didn't show efficacy on week 1 (5/15/14), then you repeat at a higher 2 PR dose level on week 2.

Pyrr - With regards to an investment thesis angle, cancer cure + stock price potential = winner. IMO.

You seem to have already done some work on that in your instablog. The big wow factor is that if things come together well for Direct and L, the returns are much more than the typical bio 2X-4X multiple in price on news, more like 10X - 20X.

On timing, before ASCO is better than after, as your article would be a reference point for ASCO attendees and new investors when the presentations / updates are made and good news does come out.

Pyrr - Sorry no private posting access. Just minor mostly grammatical suggestions on your very well written article, comments indicated by the underline. The first sentence refers to the first line of paragraph for reference.

DCVax-L is being developed to treat: This is unheard of in GBM and stunning in that for over 30 years now there have been no advances made in treating this disease.

What's very interesting at the moment: broken free in the body that would otherwise become tumors all their own eventually.

Well, what exactly is this stuff they are injecting into these tumors? Why, your very own precisely matured DCs (dendritic cells), of course. They are harvested from your body via simple blood draw, sent to NWBO for "activation" (proprietary company technology),

This was an immunization to cancer. Like what any good vaccine should do, it immunized you.

Alright, it’s a mouse study.

The far more likely scenario is that, just as seen in the Triozzi study, 80% - 100% response rate..... In fact, as a broad category, intratumoral injection has always proved effective, even in using synthetic,

I say 5 more PR's thru May 30th as well:
PR 1 - Cancer #2 and $3
PR 2 - Cancer $4, $5, $6
PR 3 - Direct clinical data summary-to-date
PR 4 - DCVax-L efficacy news (AA or just update on delay)
PR 5 - UK hospital exemption