Many on Wall Street who follow Seattle-based Oncothyreon know it as the developer of Stimuvax, a product designed to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer cells. But what fewer realize is that Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: ONTY) has long envisioned a product that could trump its original Stimuvax, and it has only recently gotten the money to put this idea to the test in clinical trials. The idea for a “son of Stimuvax” is a big part of the reason why investors recently poured $54 million into the company after what was interpreted as bad news for its lead product candidate. There are some very interesting scientific and business reasons why Oncothyreon wants to test the second-generation product, called ONT-10. It is attached to a more potent immune-boosting compound than the original, and the new drug is designed to stimulate a sort of two-pronged immune response, instead of just the T-cell reaction sparked by the original.
