Overview
Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. is a development stage biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing immunotherapy products that generate and enhance immune system responses to treat cancer. The Company operates in the United States and is incorporated in Delaware, USA. Currently approved cancer treatments are frequently ineffective, can cause undesirable side effects and provide marginal clinical benefits. The Company’s approach in developing cancer therapies utilizes its expertise in the biology of dendritic cells, which are a type of white blood cell that activate the immune system. The Company’s cancer therapies have been demonstrated in clinical trials to significantly extend both time to recurrence and survival, whilst providing a superior quality of life with no debilitating side effects when compared with current therapies.
The Company’s platform technology, DCVax®, uses a patient’s own dendritic cells, the starter engine of the immune system. The dendritic cells are extracted from the body, loaded with tumor biomarkers or ‘‘antigens’’, thereby creating a personalized therapeutic vaccine. Injection of these cells back into the patient initiates a potent immune response against cancer cells, resulting in delayed time to progression and prolonged survival. The Company’s lead product candidate is DCVax®-L which targets Glioblastoma Multiforme (‘‘GBM’’), the most lethal form of brain cancer. DCVax®-L is currently being tested for efficacy in a Phase III FDA-allowed clinical trial. Phase III trials comprise the final phase of clinical testing before . product approval. Following this trial, the Company anticipates filing a biologic license application (or ‘‘BLA’’) with the FDA for DCVax®-L. DCVax®-Prostate, which targets hormone independent (i.e. late stage) prostate cancer, has also been cleared by the FDA to commence a Phase III clinical trial, which is also designed and powered as a pivotal trial.
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