Hi Oakrock,
I've always been excited by personalized cancer vaccines and was very pleased when ADXS announced they would be pursuing such products in -NEO and -HOT. However, ADXS is not the only company pursuing personalized vaccines. There are several, but AGEN (Prophage like -NEO and AutoSynVax like -HOT), IMDZ(ZVex/GLAAS platform), GNCA (ATLAS platform) are three others that I'm aware of.
Remember, ADXS has been around for a long time, languishing under poor management (Moore era), poor capitalization, and some amount of doubt regarding the products safety/efficacy (cancer vaccines had long thought to be a lost cause, perhaps due to the one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't always translate from rats to humans). So in that context, ADXS-HPV, -PSA, -Her2 are essentially first-generation vaccines that are finally getting moved forward. They are worth moving forward of course and could bring tremendous value to ADXS, shareholders, and cancer patients.
But you can see that the speed of progress in pre-clinical scientific development dramatically outpaces the speed of progress in clinical trials. So as products are finally getting through multiple years of trials, there are already many potentially superior products in the pre-clinical pipeline. This puts companies like ADXS and tech acquisition companies like MRK, AZN, BMY, etc. in tough positions. Do we develop/buy older products that are already superseded by better ones in development?
IMO ADXS has done a great job playing catch-up since the Moore era. Now, ADXS has both aspects going for it: a first-gen phase3 asset that will stand alone commercially *and* second-gen in development that has already attracted a major collaborator. This is why I have a great deal more respect for the ADXS management team than some.
Sorry for the long, rambling post. Had to get some of that off my chest :) Best to you!
