Northwest Biotherapeutics Receives Two 'Qualified Therapeutic Discovery Project' Grants

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Biotherapeutics (OTC Bulletin Board: NWBO) today announced that the company has received approximately $490,000 in two grants under the Qualified Therapeutic Discovery Project Grants Program.  The maximum award was received for both grants.  

The Qualified Therapeutic Discovery Project Grants Program was included in the healthcare reform legislation enacted last March, and established a one-time pool of $1 billion for grants to small biotech companies developing novel therapeutics which show potential to (a) result in new therapies that either treat areas of unmet medical need, or prevent, detect, or treat chronic or acute diseases and conditions, (b) reduce long-term health care costs in the United States, or (c) significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within the 30-year period beginning on May 21, 2010.  

NWBT is developing DCVax® personalized immune therapies for treatment of most cancers: a whole new category of cancer treatments (without toxicity).  As previously reported, patients treated with DCVax® have shown striking extensions of survival in brain cancer and late stage prostate cancer in clinical trials to date.  In addition, further long-term survival data continues to accumulate.  As such, NWBT's DCVax® technology is a strong fit with the program goals relating to novel therapeutics in the Therapeutic Discovery Grants Program.  

The Therapeutic Discovery Grants were also targeted to small companies with new biotechnologies that have the greatest potential to  (a) create and sustain (directly or indirectly) high quality, high-paying jobs in the United States, and (b) advance United States competitiveness in the fields of life, biological, and medical sciences.

NWBT has pioneered a unique batch manufacturing process (making several years of treatments in a single batch) which is revolutionizing the economics of personalized products, such as DCVax®, and enabling them to be produced in the US and priced below the level of most recent cancer drugs.  NWBT has also designed and developed novel automation of key manufacturing processes for these personalized products, which greatly increases production efficiencies and quantities, while significantly reducing both direct and indirect costs.   As such, NWBT's batch manufacturing and automation technologies are a strong fit for the program goals relating to US jobs, manufacturing and competitiveness in the Therapeutics Discovery Grants Program.

The Therapeutic Discovery Project grant applications were first reviewed by the US Treasury Department, and then were independently reviewed and evaluated by the Department of Health and Human Services in regard to their novelty, significance and fit with the grant program's goals.

About Northwest Biotherapeutics

Northwest Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing immunotherapy products that treat cancers more effectively than current treatments, without toxicities of the kind associated with chemotherapies, and on a cost-effective basis.  The Company has two broad platform technologies:  dendritic cell-based vaccines and therapeutic antibodies.  The Company's lead clinical trial is a 240-patient Phase II trial in newly diagnosed Glioblastoma multiforme ("GBM"), the most aggressive and lethal form of brain cancer.  The Company also previously received clearance from the FDA for a 612-patient Phase III trial in prostate cancer, and clearance from the FDA for Phase I trials in five other cancers.  The Company has also conducted a Phase I/II trial with DCVax® for recurrent metastatic ovarian cancer.  The Company's second technology platform, involving antibodies to CXCR4, is at the pre-clinical development stage.

For further information about clinical sites and Company information please visit the company web site at www.nwbio.com.

Disclaimer

Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements concerning future treatment of patients with GBM using DCVax®-Brain and future clinical trials, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Words such as "expects," "believes," "intends," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement.  Specifically, there are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, such as the Company's ability to raise additional capital, risks related to the Company's ability to enroll patients in its clinical trials and complete the trials on a timely basis, the uncertainty of the clinical trials process, uncertainties about the timely performance of third parties, and whether the Company's products will demonstrate safety and efficacy.  Additional information on these and other factors, including Risk Factors, which could affect the Company's results, is included in its Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings.  Finally, there may be other factors not mentioned above or included in the Company's SEC filings that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement.  You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.  The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by securities laws.    

SOURCE Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc.