NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[HappyLibrarian]

Secret negotiations and surrenders don't generate PR's.

Kennedy did not PR the fact that he had yielded to Khrushchev and removed American missile bases in Turkey to end the Cuban Missile crisis.

We had to wait decades to find that out. It doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I freely admit that Ms. Powers lied about releasing updates "undeterred" when in reality she was very much deterred.

She knuckled under to AF and MD Anderson but didn't want to admit that in public.

First there's the pride in not being seen as submitting to pressure.

Second, a public surrender it would make it look like she was admitting that NWBO's PR's had been unethical.

Does yielding to the demands of AF and MD Anderson sound implausible?

Remember AF was strong enough to silence the Washington Post.

Even Nixon with the full power of the Presidency couldn't manage that.

They kept investigating that second-rate burglary until he went down.

The deal was probably pretty simple:

1. NWBO admits no wrongdoing by releasing information
2. MD Anderson quits feeding AF and criticizing NWBO in public
3. NWBO vets all releases on Direct with MD Anderson first
4. Everybody shuts up about what happened before

The only thing Ms. Powers couldn't control were the NWBO shareholders who were ringing MD Anderson's phone off the hook and trashing them and Dr. Buzdar on social media.

But those attacks would run out of steam on their own since with no new news released by NWBO on Direct, MD Anderson and AF would have nothing to react to.

Since shareholders took Ms. Powers at her word that she would release updates "undeterred" (and that was the last thing they heard from her), they had no reason not to stand down.