NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[flipper44]

"Four important things happened over the last couple weeks.

1. Cognate management completed buyout of its own company from Toucan. An international "syndicate" helped resource Cognate buyout from Toucan. It was a friendly buyout that was reportedly years in the making.

2. Astra Zeneca received approval for checkpoint inhibitor "Imfinzi" in stage III unresectable lung cancer that does not (and/or no longer) responds to chemotherapy. No foreseeable competition for that indication in the near future. (I'd call that a foot in the door.)

3. NWBO Board member Navid Malik (Neil Woodford friend) was allocated 9,065,000 of options from NWBO Directors. (Woodford fund's largest investment is Astra Zeneca)

4. Advent is transferring (aka: "migrating") its facilities from NW London to Sawston over the next 18 months.

(Note: UK's NICE has not changed it's plan to start DCVax-L appraisal this coming summer ("Begins" Mid June, 2018. NICE UK has announced/designated June 2018 since last August 2017)"

Hank, your questions were about numbers two and three, as you know. NW has been a very long believer in the science for Imfinzi and the science of DCVax. However, despite his support of Astra Zeneca, Imfinzi, Astra Zeneca's checkpoint inhibitor was (almost) going nowhere. Before imfinzi was approved for stage three nonresectable lung cancer that did not respond to chemotherapy, Imfinzi only had prior approval for urothelial carcinoma.

Now with the approval for stage III Unresectable NSClC not responding to chemotherapy, Astra Zeneca and Neil Woodford have a real toehold for revenue with their current primary immunotherapy.

Before February 20, 2018 (yet after 2015) any support by NW of NWBO would be a bit non-synergistic. In other words, a couple years ago, NW expected Imfinzi to FLY, very quickly, but instead, it had a number of setbacks keeping Imfinzi out of the checkpoint inhibitor market for the most part. During that time, BMY and Merck kept gaining turf. This was exacerbated by what at the time was a monumental public flop of Imfinzi for stage IV lung cancer as it related to PFS in the Mystic trial (OS is yet to be revealed in the Mystic trial).

However, now AZN has something (Imfinzi success) potentially synergistic to combine with DCVax-L (as it once thought it would over two years ago). Like a phoenix from the ashes, the two companies make sense to conduct business again. I always thought David Malik's presence on the NWBO board related most strongly to his connections with AZN and NW. So maybe you can see why the sudden announcement of sorts by Advent (London 2018 "migration" to Sawston 2019), the huge option package to Navid Malik from NWBO Directors, the the toehold by Imfinzi as a cancer therapy that can now produce consistent revenue (and still might expand further), all neatly condensed in a two week period made sense to me. Top that off with Toucan selling out Cognate in that two week period, whilst Cognate maintains its longterm contracts with NWBO, and it appears NW's patience paid off. (Neil never wanted Toucan and NWBO to continue their relationship, imho). I think he saw it exactly as certain bears have described it.

Let me make this more basic. By the end of 2015, it looked to most, except NW, that AZN's flagship immunotherapeutic to treat cancer was a bust. That is no longer the case. Prior to November 2015, NW and NWBO were working hand in glove to build up DCVax and get it on the market. Upon seeming failure of AZN's Imfinzi (AZN had a painful history prior to that as well with their Checkpoint Inhibiotors) in late 2015, Neil and Astra had nothing to gain if NWBO became a star before Imfinzi could make it worth their while.

Are things becoming more clear?