Replies to post #589575 on NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[ADVFN_doclee]

Gary, When DCVax-L is licenced in the UK funds will not automatically roll in from Day 1. For use in the NHS NWBO must first negotiate an acceptable price with NICE (National Institute for Health & Care Excellence). The price will depend on how many QALYs (defn: quality-adjusted life years) the treatment will confer on the patient. 1 QALY is equal to 1 year of life in perfect health or 2 years in not so perfect health, and so on. The longer the patient lives due to the treatment, the higher the price paid for the treatment that NICE will accept.
In a briefing document in 2013 it was said that:

"Cost–utility analysis considers people's quality of life and the length of life they will gain as a result of an intervention. The health benefits are expressed as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).
Generally, we consider that interventions costing the NHS less than £20,000 per QALY gained are cost effective. Those costing between £20,000 and £30,000 per QALY gained may also be deemed cost effective, if certain conditions are satisfied .

It is quite clear that horse trading will be needed to get an "adequate" return on NWBO's investment if £100,000+ per treatment (being the price charged when produced for compassionate use and therefore indicative of the cost of production only) is the amount needed for treating one patient, specifically when the Phase 3 Study showed on average only a few months of extra life when added to the standard of care.
From that, I think that the unpublished figures for survival from the study by Prof Liau et al using poly-ICLC and pembrolizumab will be crucial in upping the price of DCVax-L to a level that is mutually acceptable to NWBO and NICE.