NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

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Two weeks ago Northwest Biotherapeutics announced a partnering agreement with Fraunhofer, the largest applied research foundation in Europe. Shares have since near-doubled in value.

Northwest's vaccine, DCvax-Brain, also addresses the largely unmet need for better brain cancer treatment. Its latest partnership agreement was especially significant in the approval to administer DCvax-Brain to patients under compassionate care uses in Europe. This may mean the inflow of incremental revenues and cash as a means of financing ongoing operations.

DCVax-Brain, like ImmunoCellular's ICT-107, has seen phenomenal clinical data in previous trials, as noted here. Also, 69% of patients have survived beyond two years, significantly greater than the standard-of-care rate of 26%. Moreover, Northwest Biotherapeutics prepared the following schedule to gauge DCVax's effectiveness relative to Dendreon's Provenge, and the current standard-of-care, which includes surgery, radiation therapy and Temodar, a compound distributed by Merck (MRK).

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Like Northwest Biotherapeutics, ImmunoCellular Therapeutics has also considered the possibility of licensing out its technology and/or the possibility of a takeover by a large pharmaceutical company in later stages. When asked about competitive advantage at his firm, IMUC CEO Manish Singh responsed:

We don’t measure ourselves to matrices such as how many people we have working under us, or how many trials we can run; rather, focus belongs to running clinical trials where we believe we can demonstrate significant value inherit in our products. For example, instead of undergoing a single arm phase II trial, we proceeded to implement a randomized, double blinded trial as means for proving efficacy. This would particularly cater to a large pharmaceutical company from an acquisition perspective.

Earlier this year Amgen took over privately-held Biovex, a biotechnology firm that was developing a vaccine for head and neck cancer, for $1B. Biovex's cancer drug showed efficacy that fell short of Northwest Biotherapeutics’ DCvax, at least as observed in earlier trials. Yet the resemblance shows the potential inherit in new generation immunotherapy-based firms. This is the future of cancer therapy.Remember, Dendreon wasn't built in a day.

Disclosure: I am long AMGN, NWBO.OB, IMUC.OB.

Additional disclosure: The opinion expressed herein does not constitute a buy or sell recommendation for any securities. Please be advised that you should consult your independent investment advisor before making any investment decisions. View our full disclaimer at timelesswealth.net.

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