Northwest Biotherapeutics: Sixteenth Feuerstein Attack on the Company (NWBO, Buy, $8.11)
Adam Feuerstein has just  launched its 16th negative blog on Northwest Biotherapeutics since the beginning of March and this has caused the stock to decline about $0.88 in early trading. The link to his blog is
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12749366/1/prestigious-cancer-hospital-rebukes-northwest-bio-for-inappropriate-data-disclosures.html  and the title of the blog is "Prestigious Cancer Hospital Rebukes Northwest Bio for 'Inappropriate' Data Disclosures"
Here is what I know so far. Feuerstein claims to have spoken to a Dr. Buzdar who is an oncologist by training and works at M.D. Anderson. I am not clear what his job is at M.D. Anderson but it is my understanding that he is not involved with the DCVax Direct trial. It appears that the sensational headline is misleading. I do not think that M.D. Anderson as an institution has criticized NWBO about their release of interim data on the DCVax Direct trial. This is an open label trial and it is not unusual for a Company to release interim data before the end of the trial. There is nothing illegal or unethical in doing so as long as the information is accurate. My best judgment is that Dr. Buzdar is speaking for himself and not M.D. Anderson.
I understand that NWBO will work with M.D. Anderson to respond to this latest Feuerstein missive. I do not see this as an important new event in the DCVax Direct trial. It is an article composed by an author will a well laid out and well understood negative agenda.
Although this is a sensational headline, it does not in anyway impugn the data that has been released about DCVax Direct nor the possible final outcomes. It is a typical strawman argument about whether it is appropriate to discuss interim data. Opinions may differ, but what NWBO has done is not unusual or unethical.
Tagged as dcvax direct, Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc., NWBO + Categorized as Smith On Stocks Blog
Larry – Dr. Buzdar has connections with AstraZeneca.
Anastrozole for breast cancer: recent advances and ongoing challenges. – by Dr. Buzdar
As I’m sure you know, AstraZeneca is working on treatments using the body’s own immune cells to recognize and attack cancer. Gee, that sounds an awful lot like what Direct is doing.
Larry– This latest attack by AF against NWBO… concerning allegations from Dr. Aman U. Buzdar… he’s a breast cancer doctor, what does he have to do with NWBO???
http://faculty.mdanderson.org/Aman_Buzdar/
Primary Appointment
Vice President, Clinical Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Professor of Medicine and Internist (tenured), Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://www.uthouston.edu/gsbs/faculty/faculty-directory/faculty-profiles.htm?id=2273496
“My research interests have been defining and improving the short- and long-term benefits of systemic adjuvant therapies for breast cancer. My colleagues and I demonstrated that fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FAC) chemotherapy before surgery is effective in reducing the risk of recurrence and substantially improves the odds of remaining free of disease for women with operable breast cancer.”
It appears that Feuerstein found a breast cancer specialist who was willing to speak with him but had no idea what F-steen was up to. He is in no way qualified to speak about the DCVax Direct trial.
Thank You Larry!,
Good report. I would like to hear from both NWBO and MD Anderson in the next press release. Thank you for commenting on this.
IMHO if MD Anderson says the satisticts they sent NWBO have been altered, misinterpreted or unfactual, then that will be huge pulse for NWBO….AF is afraid of results and tries his best to under-mine them….I realize the lead investigator for NWBO at MD Anderson cannot comment on the results of an on-going trial, however, the Hospital can report if the company is taking these patient reports and mis-leading patients, families, the scientific community and the investors in the company…..This, I think, is what makes MD Anderson a premire reseach hospital…..They would not allow a company to take their results and misuse them, would they?? I do hope the MD Anderson’s PR Dept. their legal dept and the administration of the hospital add some clarity by the end of the day, or at least by the end of next week….Already some boozo law firm wants to sue NWBO and is asking people to sign on….Anyway, here we go again, AF against the science and then personally, against Linda….Hope he loses….
Hi Larry,
Are there any historical references to demonstrate chronic intentional lying stock manipulation by the press can be shut down?
Clearly F-stein is engaged in making false statements that have had a material impact on investors.
This morning two Wall St. sleazebag law firms, Rosen, and Pomerantz, have launched “investigations” of securities fraud against NWBO, thanks to Feuerstein’s latest piece of mis-speak. I fired off a memo to each of them, telling them they should be investigating AF, not NWBO. I recommended they read your article above, and then compare your credentials vs. Feuerstein’s essential lack of any. Of course there’s no money in it for them to investigate Feuerstein.
There are two lawsuit firms investigating NWBO for lying in their press releases. NWBO might get into serious trouble if they find anything.
They are relying on AFs article for their lawsuits. I think the article will shortly be shown to be false and libelous. The lawsuits are clearly without merit
Larry,
Should investors be nervous over two lawsuit firms investigating NWBO for PR manipulation? If proven false can NWBO do anything against the Doctor or Adam for the massive damage caused in the stock market today as well as the damage to MD Anderson and NWBO reputation?
for what it is worth, I spoke to a Media Relations person at MD Anderson and he defends Dr. B.
to the hilt….Says it is unpresidented and unethical to release such early returns….Could be any
# of reasons for the results….Never said the results were false….Said “he has not seen them” and no one from MD should ever comment on on-going trials….Since Linda is a Lawyer, I hope she
can defend her press releases…..I also deeply hope she does not back down from making press releases as the test results come back to her from MD…..She has set ON the road less traveled…She has broken the mold….The Media man said in all his 20 years he has never seen a company make these early results public….He thinks it is to hype the stock….Not the treatment….Of course, time and trials will give us the results that will eventually be the basis for either optimism or despair…
Has she made any response yet?? I’m headed over to their web-site and see if she posted anything yet….As I see this, this is tiny company IS in the battle with giants….My greatest fear is that Germany
will get soooooooooooooo much pressure that they will recind their special exemption and bang down on the treatment for Germans and others who want to pay for it…..That WOULD be a game-changer,,,,,,That exemption is the only thing that keeps me believing this treatment is effective….
If and when Germany comes out and says what the $$ will be for treatment and back up their desire to treat people, then that WILL be a huge affirmation of the potential of this treatment working as designed……Till all of that gets put into place, we are all going to be on the ride of our lives….for the sake of the lives of cancer patients with solid tumors who can L or D, I sure hope and pray it works the way the Doctors and patients hope for….Stay tune for more in the ongoing saga of NWBO,
Just speculation, but this may be a deliberate attempt to allow those who were short to cover their position. What I do not understand is why investors, NWBO, INO, MNKD, and a slew of other companies have not filed a class action lawsuit against those who have slandered their reputation and hindered their ability to raise capital. And people wonder why drugs are so expensive!!! One of the reasons has clearly been exemplified today. I wonder how many beneficial drugs have failed to get to market due to this sort of corruption. It is already extremely expensive to fund FDA trials, and this corruption makes it all the more difficult.
I’m not sure anything illegal has happened on either side of this dispute. It might be unusual how quickly NWBO is compiling and turning around the information from the trial and that might pose a risk, but it doesn’t seem illegal. For AF to find a doc in an institution the size of MD Anderson who gave him a few quotes over the phone isn’t illegal either.
I’ve come to believe in Larry Smith’s extremely thorough work and judgement, particularly on the science side and that goes a very long way towards enabling me to make substantial investments (for me) in biotech companies. In addition to Mr. Smith, in the case of NWBO, we have the German Hospital Exemption which is a tremendous validation of the work the company is doing. So, when a guy like AF with his track record finds an academic oncologist to say what he did (that preliminary results from an in-process experiment are less than conclusive from an academic perspective) that doesn’t begin to damage the credibility that the company has built up in my eyes.
I increased my position in NWBO about 15% this morning.
Thank you Larry, et al….I hate to be going up against Linda, the Lawyer….going up against the treatment is spectulation until the results, (in the case of “L”) are published…..To go up against her with this kind of attack does seem to leave AF open to a lawsuit….So, we will wait and see how Linda responds….She always does and I think it will be a doozy….Cheers
Thanks Larry for your comments but Linda Powers has a degree from Harvard Law and I am sure that if his wrote anything liable she would know. We all will have to wait for her response. What I don’t understand why MD Anderson doesn’t have a policy stating that no Md or researcher can comment on a trial that he is not involved in. Also I consider any information that MD Anderson give Linda on open trials is material news and according to the SEC regulation FD need to passed along to investors.
Still waiting for the official statement from MD Anderson upon which AF’s article is supposedly based. Fortunately, I am not holding my breath.
Complaints can be filed at the following SEC website:
https://denebleo.sec.gov/TCRExternal/questionaire.xhtml
Here is a response from MD Anderson on Rueters came in at 4:30
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/19/northwest-bio-safety-idUSL2N0P01NU20140619
Larry,
Regarding Adam Feuerstein’s hammering of Northwest Biotherapeutics again today:
1) Maybe Dr. Buzdar got suckered into these statements… but maybe not. He is working with big Pharma in breast cancer chemotherapy development, correct? Didn’t Northwest recently drop the breast cancer (metastasized to brain) in the Direct trial? Did Buzdar have anything to do with that? Two patients remain in that branch of the trial as I recall. I wonder how they are doing. To well, regarding the breast tumors?
2) In the earlier post today by Lawrence Braverman (10:08 a.m.): I think the point of the post was that Dr. Buzdar himself has been, or had been reporting ongoing data from an open trial. So, if I am interpreting this correctly, for him to say that he has never seen such before is outrageous.
3) I don’t think that the relationship between Adam Feuerstein and Jim Cramer, with Jim Cramer’s admitted, publicly recorded criminal history of disseminating falsified information specifically with the purpose of manipulating stock prices to get himself out of a jam is talked about enough at times like this. It is the true public record, and it has great relevance to situations like this. Not only did Cramer openly admit to these regular practices, he stated that he felt that anyone that was not willing to do the same did not belong in the business. If you have not seen the video of Cramer making these statements, please let me know.
In my opinion, the fact that Jim Cramer still works as one of the most influential retail stock advisors on the planet is standing proof that the SEC is corrupt. For that reason I believe that your suggestion that Feuerstein could be in trouble with the SEC is Pollyanna.
Cramer’s current business partner / co-owner of “The Street” was also his first large customer in the Hedge fund that Cramer ran while regularly performing the publicly admitted, large scale stock price manipulation that I referenced. The entry of Adam Feuerstein into that picture is so conspicuous that it begs attention, yet it gets none. Add Feuerstein’s nonsensical thesis that states that no Biotech with a market cap under $300M can make it… and the picture gets so ugly that I am embarrassed to be in a country where this can go on without action from the SEC. Honestly. Embarrassed.
Larry,
I obviously subscribe to your reports because I know you more sooooooooo
much more about Wall Street and how things work there than I do……So, my question to you
and others who follow this article is as follows: “Should I use the above link to complain
to the SEC about Mr. F and his timing of his article to bash the pps of NWBO just as the
options are coming due and costing longs millions, (maybe) of $$s in price swings and
trades?” I really don’t know the ins and outs of the SEC…..I would ask them if they would
say to me, “You should know you are swimming in shark-filled waters and it is not our
job to point them out to or protect you” or “we are watching out for the ‘sharks’ and will protect
you if we think one is about to attack you?” I have no clue how Wall Street and the SEC
interact and protect me the small investor which, for me, is getting a HUGE lesson in
seemingly stock manipulation and fraud by the hands of one quite influential author….
If he is merely the shill of the hedge funds and the money-mongers who reap millions
from his articles that cast doubt on the the particular Biotech company he is bashing,
then who will protect us little investors who are believing in the company and trying to
invest in this new science idea? Thank you if happen to read this and choose to respond to my
questions about complaining to the SEC….I always look forward to your reports and answers
to subscriber’s questions…..Have a terrific week and we wait and see what unfolds next in
the on-going saga of NWBO…..Cheers
Larry
In case you have not seen, read or reported on this peer review article published by the “L” research team in the UK, I’d like to pass it on to you for your files and maybe, your comments,
as it is well over my level of knowledge….Your comments on it would be appreciated….
link………..http://bit.ly/im3pU3c
I think that it says what we have all believed. The concept of using dendritic cells pulsed with tumor lysate is a compelling biological hypothesis that could be a breakthrough in the way that we treat certain cancers in terms of efficacy and safety. The phase 1/2 results have suggested that some patients have extraordinarily long periods of survival that are unprecedented with any other therapies. We all hope that the larger phase 3 results now underway confirm the hypothesis and the phase 1/2 data because it opens up a whole new avenue for research. The most important thing about this paper is that it was authored by two physicians engaged in the phase 3 trial in the UK which some might take as a more validated source of opinion.
Thank you Larry for taking the time and expertise to enlighten me…..One question and it comes from the concerns that P Man raises on SA that this is all about IMUC and not about NWBO…I
realize that results are blinded for “L” so they cannot comment on them, but as you so well said above
that the authors are NWBO investigators and that the phase 3 is ongoing and that the treatment seems to have some dramatic effects……..I guess time will tell….I do hope people would stop bashing NWBO and its up-hill battle to get this treatment to people with little or no hope and treatments that are worse than the disease in some cases….Again, I am so happy to subscribe to your news letter and opinions and recommendations and look forward to the next and the next and someday, to see data on “L” which the lack of, is confounding just about everyone….Let the Light Shine….
Thank you again