Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:NWBO) shares slumped 17% on Tuesday then recovered 6.38% in after-hours trading to $0.360. The company has a market cap of $37.90 million at 113.74 million shares outstanding. Share prices have been trading in a 52-week range of $0.32 to $8.59.
Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc is a biotechnology company that is focused on developing immunotherapy products to treat cancer. One of its product lines, DCVax-L, is designed to cover all solid tumor cancers in which the tumors can be surgically removed while another product line, DCVax-Direct, is designed for all solid tumor cancers.
The lead product line DCVax-L is in an ongoing Phase III trial for diagnosed Glioblastome multiforme at several trial sites. However, these clinical trials have been put on hold for almost a year already, which means that Northwest Biotherapeutics hasn’t been able to enroll new patients to the study. This has contributed to the stock’s continuous slide, especially since management has not disclosed much details on why the hold was put in place.
Still, data from earlier trials have suggested that the drug could be highly effective and the fact that the FDA has previously allowed patients to be enrolled suggests that they deem the product as safe. This has led some analysts to maintain that the clinical trials could resume at some point, reviving gains for Northwest Biotherapeutics stock.
Apart from that, the press release following the clinical trials hold suggests that this may have been put in place to fine-tune the screening process, not necessarily reflective of a failure in the drug itself. Estimates for peak sales upon drug approval reach up to $250 million, which could mean significant revenues for the company later on.
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