BOTHELL – Northwest Biotherapeutics’ novel vaccine to fight brain cancer is now commercially available in Switzerland, a milestone that promises to create the company’s first revenue.
Swiss health officials authorized the company’s vaccine, DCVax-Brain, for use at a number of treatment centers in that nation.
That’s different than a “full-blown approval” for the treatment, said Alton Boynton, Northwest Biotherapeutics’ chief executive officer. But it still will bring in revenue, a first for the 11-year-old company.
It’s also another sign of hope for a company that’s been on the edge of going out of business numerous times since mid-2002.
“I always thought we had a fighting chance. We knew we had a good product. It just took perseverance, hard work and a little bit of capital,” Boynton said.
After a venture capital firm provided new backing for the company two years ago, however, clinical trials of its two most promising therapies restarted. DCVax-Prostate, aimed at prostate cancer, is in late-stage testing on humans, while DCVax-Brain is in phase 2 testing.
Both treatments use dendritic cells – specialized white blood cells that stimulate the immune system to fight cancer cells – to specifically target tumors. The treatment has no known toxic side effects, unlike chemotherapy. The vaccines are made by combining the patient’s own cells with cancer-related proteins.
Under the Swiss authorization, a contracted manufacturing facility in California will make DCVax-Brain doses for Northwest Biotherapeutics, which then will be shipped to Switzerland.
DCVax-Brain worked so well in earlier tests at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center that the FDA allowed patients to stay on the treatment after the official clinical trial ended.
“We’re still seeing very strong results,” Boynton said, adding that the median survival time to date for brain cancer patients taking DCVax-Brain is nearly 34 months, compared with 14 months without the treatment.
Boynton said more than 140 patients will receive the vaccine in numerous locations for the phase 2 trial.
The good news for Northwest Biotherapeutics comes on the heels of a stock placement that sold 15.8 million shares to foreign institutional investors, raising about $26 million. Also, the company executed a reverse stock split.
News of the vaccine’s limited approval have sent Northwest Biotherapeutics’ shares into orbit so far this week. This is a stock that, prior to the refinancing and reverse split last month, traded at prices in the pennies.
On Friday, the fewer than 81,000 shares traded hands, and the stock closed at $2.10. More than 3.95 million of the company’s shares traded Monday, however, as the stock price soared 249 percent to $7.33. Shares lost 31 percent of their value Tuesday, amid heavy trading of 2.9 million shares, to close at just more than $5.04.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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