aibioNorthwest Biotherapeutics reports October 2025 closing of Advent BioServices purchase
Tickers NWBO
The company bought the UK manufacturer from a seller controlled by its chief executive. Payment is due in installments over two years.
Key facts
- Company
- Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. (OTC: NWBO)
- News type
- Mergers
- Primary source
- Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. 8-K (2026-04-07)
Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NWBO) reported in an 8-K filed April 7, 2026 that it completed its acquisition of Advent BioServices Ltd. on October 24, 2025. Advent is a United Kingdom contract development and manufacturing organization. The seller was Toucan Holdings LLC, under an acquisition agreement dated August 27, 2025. The filing says the deal was previously announced. This 8-K is the report of the closing.
What the company bought
Before the deal, Advent provided product development, manufacturing, cryostorage and distribution services for the company's DCVax platform under various service agreements. After the closing, Advent became a wholly owned subsidiary.
The company's 2024 annual report, filed March 31, 2025, described Advent as its contract manufacturer and as the contract operator of its Sawston facility in the United Kingdom. That report put the facility's anticipated potential capacity at about 40 to 45 patients a month, or approximately 450 to 500 patients a year. Those are capacity figures, not production results, and the 2024 report gives no output for the plant.
The price and the payments
The purchase price is approximately $1.9 million, or £1.4 million. The consideration also includes paying off the net accounts payable the company owed Advent for services already provided, which totaled approximately $8.3 million. The seller keeps certain excluded amounts of approximately $0.7 million that relate to matters outside the company.
The company will pay the consideration in installments over two years, beginning three months after the closing. Payments can be accelerated after regulatory approval of DCVax-L. The unpaid balance accrues interest at 7.5% a year. The 2024 annual report says the company submitted a Marketing Authorization Application for DCVax-L in the United Kingdom on December 20, 2023. The 8-K reports no approval, so the faster payment terms depend on a decision that this filing does not show.
Shares and options returned
At closing, the company received back 12 million shares of its common stock and 5.5 million stock options. Advent had received both as compensation for services. The company retired the shares to treasury and cancelled the options. The filing does not value the returned shares or options.
A related-party deal
Linda Powers is the company's chairperson, chief executive officer and president. She is also the controlling member of the seller, which makes the acquisition a related-party transaction. The 8-K says the transaction was reviewed and approved under the company's related-party transaction policies. It does not name the directors or committee that approved it, and it does not say how the price was set.
The company also received a waiver from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The waiver excuses it from providing certain financial statements of Advent and pro forma financial information about the deal. The company says it will not provide that pro forma information under Item 9.01 of Form 8-K. Readers of this filing therefore get no separate Advent financial statements and no pro forma figures.
The therapy behind the purchase
DCVax-L is the company's lead candidate. The 2024 annual report says the company completed a 331-patient international Phase III trial in glioblastoma, a brain cancer, and published the results in JAMA Oncology. It also says the company plans trials in other solid tumors when resources permit. The second candidate, DCVax-Direct, has completed a 40-patient Phase I trial. Preparations for a Phase II trial are proceeding only as resources permit.
The company's Flaskworks closed manufacturing system must still be qualified and validated before it can make DCVax-L for patients, and regulators must approve it first. The company expects its batch manufacturing to keep DCVax pricing in line with other new cancer drugs. The 2024 report gives no price or cost figure to support that expectation.
What the filing leaves out
The 8-K reports no cash balance, net loss or debt for the company, so the installment schedule cannot be set against the company's funds from this document. The first installment begins three months after the closing, and the filing gives no later schedule beyond the two-year term. The company's next stated step is the payment plan.