Linda Powers explained at the ASM they can't talk about anything in a journal article that is being submitted, lest the journal reject it. I've become accustomed, but not fond of, their writing that almost always allows at least two interpretations, but I would agree that once they were in the process of submitting, they needed to be quiet until it came out. Prior to that, as Les pointed out at the ASM, on June 5, 2017, at least Dr. Bosch gave us the enrollment curve and an overall survival update.
Sentiment sniffed out all these journal embargo issues far earlier than me. We also needed people with either good knowledge of publication timing in their experience, and or additional people that due diligenced it, and of course each individual's own due diligence. Eventually all these things happened. I believe Jimmy James might have started the cold shower on the board when he pointed out the wait we might be in store for.
I think the problem was, NWBO kept making it seem (intentionally or not) like maybe the article was about to be published because they had all these intervening appearances and then pulled out at the last minute. Remember the Florida one? It looked like the whole team was going. Or Dr. Boynton in San Diego? Last minute pullout there as well. Of course it started with the London pullout, but that one made more sense. It was the ones that kept being announced then withdrawn from at the last minute that kept making it seem the publication was about to be released.
Jeez, remember the Seattle conference recently? They were going to discuss Autologous vaccines, and at the last minute, the speaker, an investigator on the trial, changed his topic literally minutes before giving an alternate presentation.
Intentional or not, these little moments have their impact on everyone's psyche. Now we have UCLA moving their very patient oriented brain cancer presentations for the public two months out to the middle of May. Every bone in my body says they expect the publication before then, and delayed the public meetings apparently so that they can give patients more informed answers at the presentations. Remember when Senti went to a presentation a year ago and talked about Dr. Cloughesy not being being able to give precise answers about when the combination trial might start? I suspect they'd rather go with more available answers about DCVax-L by the middle of May, and thus why they moved it.
Respect Risk. Conduct Your Own Due Diligence. Manage your assets wisely. Diversify.
