Health & Fitness
Health and Fitness
Health and Fitness
Fri, July 16, 2010
Thu, July 15, 2010 
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - July 15, 2010) - According to a newly published report, Northwest Biotherapeutics' (
In a featured article today, BioMedReports lists several reasons for the rise of DCVax®.
First factor: The quality and characteristics of the antigens used by both companies in their vaccines
What matters here according to representatives at NWBO is Dendreon's target antigen is not expressed on all prostrate cancers. They have to screen their patients to see the expression of their target. NWBO's target antigen is expressed on all prostrate cancers. Additionally, with Dendreon's target, the level of expression goes down as the cancer progresses. The level of expression on NWBO's target goes up as the cancer progresses. As we learned from NWBO's Chairman Linda Powers, if your target is getting harder and harder for the vaccine to find and hit as the cancer progresses, that's not the characteristic you want in your target antigen.
Another difference in the target antigens is NWBO's target is bound to the membrane of the tumor cell. "If the DCVax® hits our target," explains Linda Powers. "It hits the cell for sure. Dendreon's target is secreted by the cell, so while the target is close by, it is not necessarily bound to the cell in every instance. Antibodies can come along and glom onto to the target and not hit the cell itself, which means accuracy is an issue."
Second factor: The manufacturing and purity of the product
The active ingredient in both companies' vaccines is dendritic cells. That is an active pharmaceutical ingredient, it's the active agent that's doing the job. But according to data provided by Northwest Biotherapeutics, the percentage composition of Dendreon's product by the company's own published material is 15% antigen presenting cells -- dendritic cells and others. According to NWBO's published material, DCVax® is over 80% active ingredient. The official product release criteria are over 80% and Northwest Biotherapeutics' platform usually hits over 90%, thus the active ingredient in NWBO's vaccine is much more concentrated.
Third factor: How is the product administered to the patient
According to Powers, because there is such a low percentage of active ingredient in Dendreon's vaccine, they have to deliver a huge volume, and the only way to do it is intravenous infusion, which is how they deliver Provenge to their patients.
This IV delivery can take over an hour. By contrast, because the active ingredient is so concentrated in the DCVax® vaccine, that NWBO only needs to administer a tiny volume of "just a few drops" and it's administered with a simple injection under the skin, like a flu shot or an insulin shot.
Investors can read the complete report complete with more comments from Northwest Biotherapeutics Chairman Linda Powers today at BioMedReports.Com:
In addition, Biotech investors interested in accessing the news portal's complete database of clinical trials and upcoming FDA decisions can access that information here:
[ http://biomedreports.com/fda-calendar/fda-calendar.html ]
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