NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[Gus McCrae]

Well, studying and treating GBM is what she's dedicated the majority of her professional career to, so even though she may not be "expecting" a cure for GBM at this point in her career, you can bet she's still trying. Also, we've made tremendous progress on the treatment of many different cancers. I have 2 members of my family who have been in remission for over 20 years...I would call them "cured" from cancer, even if there's not a universal silver bullet to cure cancer. I think you know what I'm getting at.

With respect to this statement:

I guess in my heart of hearts, I think what’s going to cure the disease is going to be personalized. It’s going to be something that comes from the person or the tumor itself and I’m not sure how that can be patented other than the idea and the process by which that’s done.

She's talking to an entrepreneur/VC and she's saying that there's no one small molecule drug or off the shelf treatment that is going to work for everyone (which is why she created DCVAX)...so the traditional way of making money off a drug investment isn't going to work, hence, NWBO's journey with DCVAX-L, which she appears to have a problem with, either morally or logically as it relates to IP protection, which is a necessary part of drug development today. She's saying she has doubts about whether it's possible to "cure" GBM because she questions whether companies will have the financial incentive to do so because of her views on the IP challenges surrounding personalized drugs.

It's an odd statement, no doubt, but unless she knows something we don't about ongoing patent challenges to DCVAX-L, I'm going to assume she's expressing a personal opinion regarding a question asked in the interview and not a professional opinion about whether DCVAX-L is good for patients and should be approved...we KNOW she thinks that it should be approved because she KNOWS that it works, for some amount of patients at least, and she's still using it. But until she has a therapy that works for all of her patients, DCVAX-L by itself is not good enough for her. Hence the combo trial with Keytruda and who knows what else she has planned.

While we are quoting Dr. Liau's interview with Malloy, we should discuss this statement:

More and more, I do think you need to think about appropriation therapies, we need to think about timing of treatments and also the whole process of getting therapies adopted through the whole hurdle of FDA approval.

For instance, consider the trial that I’ve done for dendritic cell vaccines. For cellular therapies, I think what is lacking is a smooth, operational aspect. Let’s say, if there was a company that could make GMP-grade cells readily and basically, it’s almost like the manufacturing, production, distribution, and coordination of the treatment or clinical trial for approval for a treatment would go much more smoothly.

I think that’s what’s lacking. And the ideal company would be like, almost like an Uber or Amazon. Basically something that turns and existing industry upside down. I think we need something that turns the—not only the clinical trial to FDA approval process upside down, but also how to scale that up once something is approved or adopted.

This interview was from March 2020. I wonder if Dr. Liau is any more optimistic about NWBO's prospects after the Flaskworks acquisition? I have my doubts about how a technology acquired for only $4.5 million can have any sort of near term benefit, but the description of Flaskworks' technology is exactly what Dr. Liau is saying is necessary for scaling DCVAX-L. I hope Flaskworks' IP protection is rock solid; it could end up being the special sauce for DCVAX-L.