Monday, February 19, 2024 1:32:38 PM
When considering potential partners for Northwest Bio, most would agree that Merck does have a distinct advantage due to the combination trial at UCLA; however, I’ve also thought that Gilead could be one of the many companies that will be interested in partnering with, or acquiring Northwest Bio when the time comes, and they certainly bring more than a checkbook to the table. Recently, Gilead’s CEO said, “the company will continue to be opportunistic about pursuing business development within its three focus areas of virology, oncology, and inflammation, and it will look at later-stage deals.”
Although Gilead does not have a checkpoint inhibitor, like Merck or Bristol Myers, to combine with DCVax, Gilead has demonstrated a willingness to acquire immuno-oncology companies, most notably, Kite Pharma for $12B, Forty Seven for $5B, and Immunomedics for $21B. They obviously recognized the promise of cell therapy very early on, and were willing to take the risk to pioneer the commercialization of one of the first CAR-T cell treatments (Yescarta) with their Kite acquisition, and have proven the commercial viability of cell therapy.
Gilead allows its Kite subsidiary to stand alone, and it has become a leader, with two approved cell therapies (Yescarta and Tecartus) in over 20 countries, and has developed significant expertise and resources. They know better than most other Bio Pharma companies what it takes to successfully commercialize a cell therapy, and they’ve built multiple state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities designed specifically for cell therapy production, negotiated extremely expensive ($400k plus) insurance reimbursements, established international cold-chain distribution networks, developed relationships with hospitals and over 400 authorized treatment centers, and have an international personalized customer care network.
Gilead has been battling its CAR-T competitors ever since their $12B Kite acquisition in 2017, fighting for market share in each new indication, in a relatively small, 2nd and 3rd-line setting in every market around the world, for a treatment that requires patient hospitalization, has serious potential safety issues, and uses a very complex, expensive, and lengthy manual manufacturing process; in other words, it has been a continual struggle to get to where they are (around $1.5B in sales) after six years. And on top of that, in the past few years, they’ve shelled out almost $30B for other oncology acquisitions that haven’t really paid off.
So what must Gilead’s CEO think when he evaluates Northwest Bio in comparison? A company with a (soon-to-be) approved cell therapy, with no safety issues, that not only treats Glioblastoma, the most difficult to treat solid-tumor cancer in the world, but is also applicable to other solid tumors, and will be added to the standard of care (front-line), with orphan status, so it will own the entire brain-tumor market around the world, can be administered in an out-patient setting, and oh, it also has its own patented, completely automated manufacturing process, that can be scaled to meet mass-market demand, that is less than half the cost of CAR-T cell therapy treatments. Think about what that might be worth to him.
One more thought, something else that a company with expertise in T-cell therapy may be interested in, is that other patented automated manufacturing system that Northwest Bio also owns, courtesy of the Flaskworks acquisition; the simple but brilliant, BATON system. That’s the automated system that co-cultures a patient’s own dendritic cells with the patient’s own T-cells, so it uses a natural process (rather than engineered) to present all of the antigen targets, specific to each patient’s own tumor, to the T-cells. That system was designed to make a personalized T-cell therapy for solid tumors, however, with Northwest Bio’s dendritic cell knowledge, it could be adapted to make both a dendritic cell therapy, and a T-cell therapy, so both could be administered to the patient.
And by the way, almost everything that was said about Gilead’s expertise in cell therapy and manufacturing . . . the same could be said about Bristol Myers. So yes, I definitely think there may be more than one company interested in partnering with, or acquiring Northwest Bio.
Recent NWBO News
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 08/13/2024 08:01:24 PM
- Form 10-Q - Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 08/09/2024 09:06:07 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 08/08/2024 08:30:09 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 08/02/2024 02:42:28 PM
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- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 06/04/2024 09:11:16 PM
- Form DEF 14A - Other definitive proxy statements • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 06/03/2024 09:22:55 PM
- Form PRE 14A - Other preliminary proxy statements • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:13:36 PM
- Form 10-Q - Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/10/2024 09:04:57 PM
- Form NT 10-K - Notification of inability to timely file Form 10-K 405, 10-K, 10-KSB 405, 10-KSB, 10-KT, or 10-KT405 • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 03/01/2024 10:04:38 PM
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