Northwest Biotherapeutics tried again, but its experimental treatment for brain cancer still falls short.
Last Thursday in JAMA Oncology, Northwest Biotherapeutics and its scientific collaborators published the results of a large clinical trial showing its personalized cancer vaccine administered to patients with brain tumors reduced the risk of death by 20% compared to a group of patients taken from “external controls.” The same study results were presented Sunday at a neuro-oncology research meeting, as they were last May.
The data involving the treatment called DCVax might appear to be encouraging, particularly for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. But the survival benefit was derived from an untrustworthy, post-hoc analysis that was implemented and conducted after the study had already been completed.
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