November 20, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Editor
Cancer therapy biotech Northwest Biotherapeutics said Thursday that it has received two rounds of financing totaling $35 million from U.K.-based C.F. Woodford Equity Income Fund and a recent mortgage placed on the company’s British facility in ???.
Northwest is perhaps best known for its personalized DCVax immune therapies for solid tumor cancers. It said it will use the funding to finance Phase III DCVax-L clinical trial in GBM brain cancer as well as additional DCVax-Direct Phase II trials and early access programs.
The $10 million mortgage is on an unnamed U.K. facility acquired by the Northwest as it attempts to expand its manufacturing capacity in Europe. The mortgage has a two-year term and interest-only payments until maturity.
As part of the deal, Woodford bought purchased $25 million of unregistered shares of the Company’s common stock at $5.79 per share, for a total of 4,317,790 shares, which Northwest will register within the next two months.
“We are excited to have the U.K.'s leading biotech investor come on board with NW Bio,” commented Linda Powers, chief executive officer of Northwest. “Neil Woodford has built an unparalleled investment track record focusing on compelling long-term investment opportunities, particularly in undervalued biotech and pharma assets.”
Woodford’s current fund, C.F. Woodford Equity Income Fund, which was established in May and launched in June of this year, manages about $5.25 billion.
Northwest’s lead program is a 348-patient Phase III trial in newly diagnosed Glioblastoma multiform (GBM), a form of brain cancer and an “orphan disease.” It is conducting a 60-patient Phase I/II trial with DCVax-Direct for all inoperable solid tumors cancers, with a primary efficacy endpoint of tumor regression. It has completed enrollment in the Phase I portion of the trial.
Northwest previously received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a 612-patient Phase III trial in prostate cancer. It has already conducted a Phase I/II trial with DCVax for metastatic ovarian cancer together with the University of Pennsylvania. German health regulators have also received approved a 5-year Hospital Exemption for the treatment of all gliomas (brain cancer) patients outside the clinical trial.
“Looking across the landscape of products in development for GBM, we believe DCVax-L offers particularly compelling potential,” said Powers. “We anticipate being able to show that DCVax-L can add substantially longer survival, based on experience to date. In addition, unlike many products in development, DCVax-L is not limited by either tumor characteristics or patient characteristics.”
Powers said that as a result, DCVax-L can potentially address all GBM patients, and all types and grades of glioma patients, not just a small fraction of GBM patients, as is the case with products aimed at just one or a few tumor targets, or one patient type.
