Northwest Biotherapeutics sells $10M in stock

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- Drug developer Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc. said Thursday it sold $10 million worth of its stock to a health care institutional investor that it did not identify.

Northwest Biotherapeutics said the private placement valued its shares at $3.90 each, matching the closing price on Wednesday.

The investor is buying about 2.6 million shares of Northwest Biotherapeutics and will receive warrants to buy about 1 million more shares for $4.29 per share. Those warrants can be exercised starting in six months and will last for the next five years. The sale is expected to close Friday.

Northwest Biotherapeutics stock fell 15 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $3.75 in morning trading Thursday. They have traded in a range of $2.92 to $20 over the past year.

The company is developing several cancer therapies that use its DCVax technology. The treatments combine cancer-related proteins with the patients' dendritic cells to create an immune response that targets the cancer. Dendritic cells are part of the immune system. They process antigens, or substances to which the immune system responds.

On Tuesday the company said the U.K.'s National Institute for Health Research will support a late-stage clinical trial of its experimental treatment for glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain cancer.