Once DCVax-L is approved, do we really care who's responsible for delivering it. It certainly wouldn't matter to me.
I would suspect that the chance may be good that the Dr. who does the surgery may also be the one who's routinely treating the patient. If a hospital setting isn't necessary at all, such Drs. generally have offices, some within the hospitals, some elsewhere, but my point is they're not just surgeon, they're also the patients oncologist.
I can't speak for other institutions, but I would suspect that if City of Hope were doing the surgery and treating the patient they would have an employee escort the products being made into the vaccine to where it was to be manufactured, and return to bring the vaccine back to City of Hope to be administered. That's how they treat stem cells, and in that there are similarities here where improper handling at any point could result in a failure, I would suspect they'd want as much control as they could have.
I cannot say if others handle things the way City of Hope does, but I suspect that as long as they're paid for such handling they'd prefer to do that over having a contractor do it.
Many years ago we dealt with cryogenically fitted pipe fittings, they were shipped all over the world in vacuum flasks and the few times we used them their was no problem. As the fitting warmed it shrunk and created a very strong seal on whatever it was joining. Though this was very successful when we tried it, if there had been a problem, you could simply ship the fitting that warmed up prematurely back to the manufacture where they could be re-expanded under cryogenic conditions, and reused. No such opportunity exists if either patient products are spoiled while being transported to make the vaccine, or the vaccine spoils while being transported to where it will be used. The treatment option may be completely lost unless excess material exists for making an additional batch.
Gary
