NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[biosectinvestor]

DCVax-L is not a "gene" therapy, it's an autologous cell therapy, the cells being the patient's own dendritic cells. They are not modified genetically. Therefore it's not a gene therapy. It does relate to vaccine technology, but using autologous cells to create immunity. Exposing the cells to the antigens from the patient's own tumor is also not gene therapy.

The current Car-T therapies are gene and cellular therapies because they modify autologous cells (taken from the patient) genetically, though some are working on other forms of modification, including small protein modification, which may or may not be gene therapy and which potentially don't change the genetic blueprint of the cell at all (no fingerprint). In all the current cases, the cells are autologous, but some companies are working on off the shelf cellular technologies, creating all the car-t's from generic induced pluripotent (could also be embryonic) stell cell lines that are used to create vast pools of cells that can then be grown into Car-T cells with the right properties.