Seeking Alpha is an online platform for investment research. This article reviews the leading treatments being developed for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). ABC2 has funded the early research that has led to the immunotherapeutic remedies being developed by Celldex.
Glioblastoma Multiforme is one of the deadliest cancers in all of oncology with a sudden onset of symptoms and life expectancy of about one year. It offers a small commercial market opportunity, but a disproportionately large pot of investor gold. This is because a commercial foothold here validates a company's entire process and pipeline, allowing them to grow an asymmetrical amount of investor interest.
The balance of this year, and entirety of 2015 will reveal which of these four companies: Celldex (CLDX), CytRx (CYTR), Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), and Northwest Biotherapeutics (NWBO) have the best chance of offering a commercially viable solution. There is, however, a clear division amongst these four companies favoring those offering frontline, cutting edge, immunotherapeutic approaches.
Celldex and Northwest Biotherapeutics offer remedies that can be used as adjuncts to existing treatments. Because of this, they're able to approach the frontline of the GBM treatment space. This affords them a larger swath of the treatment population out of the gate, and an opportunity for approval that doesn't threaten or compromise existing commercial interests.
CytRx and Nektar on the other hand, are utilizing targeted therapies that deliver a larger amount of chemotherapeutic agent directly to the tumor site without compromising as many healthy tissues. Because of this, CytRx and Nektar must approach from the back end as it would be unethical to subject patients to an experimental drug not knowing if it would offer an equal benefit to an existing treatment.
While Celldex and Northwest Biotherapeutics would appear to have the upper hand in terms of reaching a larger treatment population without having to supplant existing therapies, there still exists a good deal of doubt surrounding the efficacy of immunotherapeutic solutions especially in light of ImmunoCellular's (IMUC) recent ICT-107 collapse in phase 2 frontline GBM.
Consequently, this race is closer than you might think. All four candidates are in contention, offering solutions that might not intrude upon the other's approval. So let's take a quick snapshot of where each stands in relationship to the other on this open track to GBM therapeutic enhancement.
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