Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:NWBO): Here's Our Take On The Latest Update

Well, here's one for the books. Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:NWBO) just put out a fresh press release, updating markets as to the progress of its operations. Well, sort of. We didn’t get too much information on the current pipeline, the news focused primarily on a fresh trial that has reportedly been two years in the making. Markets are mixed in their interpretation of the update.In the background, there's the ongoing situation with the NASDAQ. The company has to submit a remediation plan this week, a plan that there's no guarantee the exchange will accept, and NWBO could be looking at a potential delisting (or a 180-day extension within which to get things back on track) as it heads into the start of 2017.That’s out of our range right now, however, since we don't know exactly what the company plans to do. A reverse split looks likely, as reinforced by the latest 8K, but outside of this things remain pretty foggy.So, with goal of trying to decode where things go from here, let's try and get to the bottom of what this all means.First, let's bring new readers up to speed.Northwest Bio is a development stage biotech based out of Maryland, with a focus on oncology. It's specific focus within oncology is a type of immune system cell called the dendritic cell, which is a sort of recruitment agent for the system as a whole. It recognizes pathogenic cells and highlights them to the other cells in the system, which come along and attack/remove the target cells. Northwest is trying to train these dendritic cells to recognize cancer cells, and in turn, have them recruit the immune system to attack the cancer cells in that patient. More importantly, the process through which the company prepares its therapies allows for tailored training of these cells, so the treatment can – theoretically, at least – target cancers that are heterogeneous and, as a result, very difficult to target with currently available SOCs.That's only half the story, however. The company's lead application of this technology, a drug targeting brain cancer (specifically, GBM) is currently in a phase III trial that aims to enroll 348 patients, but was forced into a partial clinical hold last year, in regard to new screening of patients. We've speculated as to the reasoning for this hold in the past, and for those new to the company this speculation is well worth a read, here. The bottom line, however, is that nobody really knows what's going on outside of the company's board.The company has been essentially silent on the matter (again, click here to find out why we think this might be), and this has hit sentiment pretty hard, with many shareholders running for the door, and those that are left disgruntled to put it lightly.Then, this press release hits.It's basically saying that the company is about to kick off a phase II using a slightly different version of the above mentioned brain cancer drug, called DCVax-L, investigating its use in combination with Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)'s Keytruda in a colorectal cancer indication.Here's what we take away from this announcement.It represents what could be the start of a very important period of news flow relating to Vax and its indications near term. While it only touched on the GBM trial, and that's the one we all really want to know about, it could open the floodgates for a stream of news. Why is this important? Well, we think this company is now valued more as a function of its seeming unwillingness to talk to shareholders than it is a function of its underlying potential. Potential buyers aren’t even looking at the science, instead basing their decision on the overarching negative sentiment. If the company can open up a line of communication with holders once more, it should remove this pressure, and buyers should once again take an interest in (what, at the end of the day, is) the company's high potential for scientific breakthrough in oncology.Some might zero in on the fact that the trial is in Germany, and that this is a sort of cop-out on kicking off a US phase II, and there's some credence to that. However, at the end of the day, this company has very little cash, and if this trial (however large, small, successful or otherwise) means the company starts communicating once more, it can only be a good thing medium to long term.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on NWBO, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in NWBO and have not been compensated for this article.