in·dic·a·tive

Adjective: Serving as a sign or indication of something.

Cancer Immunotherapy Conference

In 2010, Craig Dees presented at MD Becker Partners' Cancer Immunotherapy: A Long Awaited Reality conference at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York. Stealing from a press release from the conference, highlights of the conference included:

• Presentations by leading companies and institutions with active immunotherapies in development, including Bavarian Nordic A/S and the National Cancer Institute, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Biovest International, Celldex Therapeutics, Dendreon Corporation, ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Northwest Biotherapeutics, Prima BioMed Ltd, Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Quantum Immunologics, and others;
• An overview of appropriate choices of clinically relevant endpoints for U.S. licensing approval;
• Discussions from leading researchers on the clinical application of cancer vaccines and issues related to the development of surrogate markers that can reduce the time and expense associated with clinical trials;
• Presentations on manufacturing issues associated with the production of autologous vaccines; and,
• Wall Street and investor perspectives on the cancer immunotherapy landscape.

It was a fascinating conference, and Craig's reception certainly was interesting in so far as the eyebrows it raised, the curiousness of competitors and analysts alike, and the contrarian tact management has taken to get this far. For example, the discussions on manufacturing issues associated with the production of autologous vaccines provided a telling juxtaposition when compared to my and others' perspectives on Provectus' manufacturing process and manufacturing cost.

Below is a table from Craig's presentation summarizing, at the time, the cancer indications successfully treated by PV-10 and rose bengal:

Fast forward a year or thereabouts, in 2011, and Craig presented again at MD Becker Partners' 2nd Annual Cancer Immunotherapy: A Long Awaited Reality conference at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York.

It was another fascinating conference. Craig's reception was greater this year, as more eyebrows were raised. I did find his demeanor dramatically different.

Below is a table from his presentation summarizing the cancer indications successfully treated by PV-10 and rose bengal:

The progress is clear.