NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[meirluc]

Hi Gary,

The number of doses available for vaccination depends on the amount of tumor that can be harvested at the time of resection. If I correctly recall, 10 is the maximum number of doses planned for in this trial and I believe the vaccine shelf life is 3 years. I guess that occasionally the surgeon may be able to obtain enough tumor so that the tumor lysates can be manufactured for additional doses but there is of course a limit.

With respect to the crossover patients, many posters on this MB have discussed the antigenic differences that often exist between the original resected tumor and the regrowing tumor causing the progression. Since the regrowing tumor possesses antigenic moieties that differ from that of the original tumor, the original vaccine may not be as effective against the secondary tumor and the progressing patient may not benefit as much as a trial patient would. If true this would further diminish the survival of the placebo/control group. This is just a thought. So as to get more insight, I plan to look at the literature relevant to that topic.