The fastest, cheapest path to drug approval involves showing a small survival benefit in terminally ill patients. This economic reality disincentivizes the longer, more complex trials required for early-stage treatments that could offer a cure.
Standard cancer surgery often removes lymph nodes—the factories producing immune cells. Administering immunotherapy *before* this destructive process is critical. It arms the immune system while it is still intact and capable of mounting a powerful, targeted response against the tumor.
CellSci's drug trial ran into a stricter FDA under one administration after a period of more lenient approvals under the previous one. This political "pendulum swing" can derail promising drugs, showing that regulatory risk is not static but subject to unpredictable political change.
Quoting Amgen founder George Ratham, the podcast guest emphasizes that a true biotech company must "walk through the valley of death"—experiencing near-bankruptcy multiple times. This trial by fire is not a sign of failure but a necessary process for building the character required for ultimate success.
Instead of competing with blockbuster PD-1 inhibitors like Keytruda, Multikine is positioned as a complementary therapy. It has shown efficacy in the majority of patients who lack the high PD-1 levels necessary for those inhibitors to work, creating a vast, underserved market.
CellSci CEO Gerd Kirsten, a lawyer and financier, argues his primary function is protecting the company from market manipulation. He contends that his law and finance background has been more critical for survival than scientific expertise, which is useless without funding.
A biotech CEO's reputation hinges on daily stock fluctuations, a dynamic the guest calls "the dog is wagging the tail." Hard work on a down day is perceived as failure, while idleness on an up day is seen as genius, making public market sentiment a poor judge of actual progress.
Faced with a US market fixated on AI, CellSci is seeking approval and funding in Saudi Arabia. The nation's "Vision 2030" plan to become a global biotech hub creates opportunities for innovative companies to gain access to capital and a more favorable regulatory environment.
Market dynamics, like investor fixation on AI or predatory short-selling, pose a greater risk to biotech firms than clinical trial results. A company can have a breakthrough drug but still fail if its stock—its funding currency—is ignored or attacked by Wall Street.