Replies to post #21915 on NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[austinmediainc]

The first paragraph in our 10k,

Our management and our independent auditors have identified internal control deficiencies, which our management and our independent auditor believe constitute material weaknesses.

In connection with the preparation of our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013, and prior years, our management and our independent auditor identified certain internal control deficiencies that, in the aggregate, represent material weaknesses, including:

•insufficient segregation of duties and oversight of work performed in our finance and accounting function due to limited personnel; and

•lack of controls in place to ensure that all material transactions and developments impacting the financial statements are reflected.

As part of our independent auditors’ communications with our audit committee with respect to audit procedures for the year ended December 31, 2013, our independent auditors informed the audit committee that these deficiencies constituted material weaknesses, as defined by Auditing Standard No. 5, “An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting that is Integrated with an Audit of Financial Statements and Related Independence Rule and Conforming Amendments,” established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB. We have begun taking appropriate and reasonable steps, and will continue and complete such steps in due course, to make the necessary improvements to address these deficiencies, but the timing of such steps is uncertain and the availability of funding and resources for such steps are also uncertain. Our ability to retain or attract qualified individuals to serve on our Board and to take on key management roles within our company is also uncertain. Our failure to successfully complete the remedies of the existing weaknesses could lead to heightened risk for financial reporting mistakes and irregularities, and/or lead to a loss of public confidence in our internal controls that could have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.

Hire a CFO! Your excuse is that you are uncertain of funding and can't attract qualified people?? I personally know some very qualified CFO's that would take 200k plus stock options, a very small price to pay considering our current expenditures!

[sentiment_stocks]

Could you perhaps concede that it's good for Cognate, and for NWBO? The money we don't have to pay Cognate (and instead pay with shares) can be used for the trials.

Oh ya but everyone can come out and say we are getting the best deal, in the best scenario for all shareholders

And the fact that Linda has significant interest in both could also be seen as better than dealing with a company who has no link to NWBO. What would you think if we had to offer one half of the payment in shares to a company there was no connection with - meaning we didn't share someone looking out for the interests for both?

[DoGood_DoWell]

I am not blindly supporting NWBO, but trying to pay attention to the details as you seem to be aware doing. But as you are posting about the NWBO/Cognate relationship with some frequency, it is important that these posts not be misleading to other members on the board. If you are so very clearly aware of IMUC's manufacturing expenses for 2013, then you should also be aware that they finished enrollment and all manufacturing in 2012, and those expenses in 2013 were for other things. You must also be aware from the press releases that the criteria for the stage 1 PIM designation which will be looked at again in staged 2,the only additional factor that will determine if they get approval for early access in stage 2 is manufacturing. Manufacturing is the key competitive strength of NWBO and why it is ahead of all other competitors in getting these early regulatory approvals. So it is interesting that you keep picking on this particular factor when it is the key strength of NWBO.

Manufacturing became the key DOWNFALL for Dendreon. If you think it is such a good idea for NWBO to take the manufacturing in house, just look at what happened to Dendreon when they did that. That decision was a big factor in Dendreon's commercial failure.


I hope it has not been intentional and my feelings are based on the fact that this company has had one historic and remarkable achievement after another and the products actually extend lives with no toxicity.