NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[Galzus Research]

This man is ridiculous.

Likely reasons include:

– Data locked under NDA

– Publication rights negotiated away

– Results too sensitive to disclose
– Or NWBO delaying leverage disclosure

Sure, sure. NDA locking, ok.

Caravello isn't aware of other reasons that clinical trials get quitly shut down ALL THE TIME. Failure to find enough patients to enroll...shift in priorities of one or both parties...timelines not being met...principal partner (NWBO) not meeting its obligations. Who knows?

The most logical explanation is not that Merck is targeting poor little diamond in the rough NWBO.

Was poly-ICLC (Hiltonol) also part of the stack?

If it was never in the trial protocol, then no. It was never part of "the stack." That we need to use workout/lifestyle slang to convey this messaging in the first place is an indictment of the rigor with which this article was built, by the way.



So the conclusion here, unstated, goes:

1) Merck started up a collaboration with NWBO
2) A trial in MSS-CRC begins. Merck secretly includes Hiltonol in the soup recipe (makes as much sense as saying "stack) because reasons. None of this was disclosed in the trial protocol, therefore not to the doctors actually enrolling in the trial.
3) No one at any level is bothered at all by any of this secrecy
4) Merck (maybe...probably, wink wink) found some kind of efficacy in MSS-CRC, which would be one of the holy grails in oncology, and decided to erase the trial from existence. None of the trial investigators ever mentioned it again, and the data are coming....or maybe not.

Or maybe Merck is crushing little-old-NWBO's throat. Did you see that they had a partnership with SGEN a while ago?

Or actually no Merck is going to buy NWBO for $450 billion.

Or actually no NWBO is going to buy Merck. Probably.