Biotech Values

[poorgradstudent]

ONTY:

With this failure, I do think it is worth re-iterating that investors looking to invest in cancer vaccine companies should really be looking at the adverse events profile to gauge whether or not there is hope for efficacy.

Companies selling the concept of a vaccine against self-antigens that has efficacy but no AE are selling a fantasy: breaking immune self tolerance is a scary thing and we should expect serious AEs at this stage of development. See Ipilimumab. And in a similar vein, the T cell transplant at Children's Hospital is also a valid example: patients are severely sick as a result of the biology that is triggered by the treatment.

I've also read some comments by people saying that ONTY missed because the target was not ideal. I think that's incorrect and missing the forest for the trees.