NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[beartrap12]

Slave1, (I'm assuming now that you're Dr. Andrew Caravello). Thank you for all your hard work in putting together these well-documented posts about Merck's West Point building, WP50. And, of course, all the others! And a shout out to dstock who I believe connected some of the dots earlier in the year on West Point and many other potential connections between us and other BP.
We obviously haven't received any info from NWBO about a partnership/business relationship with Merck, yet this building began to be formulated on paper by at least 2020, and construction began in 2021.(If I remember correctly form your writings).
At the end, you link the two companies ( NWBO and Merck) together, explaining what each contributes to Project Winterfall.

My question: Is there any possibility that Merck is operating this Project on its own, without any permission or contract with NWBO?
Or is there no way that Merck could run an operation like you describe, without contracting with NWBO?
I simply can't imagine a situation where any company would spend so much money and time where the whole project is based on getting someone else's product to market!

...unless they've already linked by a deal!

I read the details you laid out about how this building cannot be for other vaccines because of specifics in documents they provided to local authorities about how Merck planned to build the facility. And I believe you. I also took a look at some of the links you provided.
If this is true....well, let's take a moment and review NWBO history.

Does anyone remember Dr. Kevin Duffy? He was hired by NWBO in September, 2019. At the time, we all thought management enticed him away from Merck in what appeared to be a tremendous steal! Then when he left, about a year later, we didn't know what to think; maybe that he was hired just to help with the SAP? Or maybe to get us ready for a business deal that dried up and never happened?

Or maybe that deal did happen. Maybe NWBO etched and more probably finalized a deal with Merck all those years ago and it was a big one.
But wait: Is it even possible, legally, for a company to keep such a secret? for 5 years? without revealing it to their shareholders?

Maybe someone on this board who understands corporate deals can answer for us.

Meanwhile, I can't imagine a better person to orchestrate the relationship you laid out in this last post, Slave1, than Dr. Duffy, given his resume at Merck.

While we think about this, here's part of the PR NWBO put out about Dr. Duffy's hire, The entire PR is on NWBO's website:

NW Bio Expands Senior Management Team With Dr. Kevin Duffy As Vice President, Medical Affairs & External Collaborations
Specialist in Immuno-Oncology; Previously Research Scientific Director In Merck’s Keytruda® Program
BETHESDA, MD, September 4, 2019 – Northwest Biotherapeutics (NWBO) (“NW Bio”), a biotechnology company developing DCVax® personalized immune therapies for solid tumor cancers, today announced that it has expanded its senior management team with the addition of Dr. Kevin T. Duffy as Vice President, Medical Affairs and External Collaborations.

Dr. Duffy is joining NW Bio from Merck, where he has served as Research Scientific Director in the Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) program during the last five years. Dr. Duffy’s roles included scientific support and outreach to health care providers and national and regional scientific leaders in over 20 different solid tumors and hematologic malignancies (blood cancers and lymphomas) relating to Merck’s clinical development and commercialization of Keytruda, as well as ongoing scientific support for Merck’s Investigator-Initiated Study Program. He served as the national contact point between the scientific affairs team working with medical professionals in the field and the internal research and development team in Merck for the Keynote-024 study in first-line non-small cell lung cancer, the Keynote-522 and -756 studies in triple negative breast cancer and ER+/HER2- breast cancer, and the Keynote-641 study in metastatic prostate cancer.

Dr. Duffy also served as Scientific Affairs Strategy and Training Lead in Merck’s Global Center for Scientific Affairs for Merck’s immuno-oncology franchise for hematologic malignancies. Dr. Duffy was the recipient of numerous achievement awards during his tenure at Merck.

In his roles at Merck, Dr. Duffy has been involved in the Keytruda development program from its early days through its wide commercialization. He has gained extensive experience with clinical trial designs and strategies, clinical results and feedback from medical professionals. He has built a nationwide network with key opinion leaders in both the clinical and the scientific arenas.

Thanks for all you insight and hard work, Slave1 (Dr. Andres Caravello)