That financial backer is Linda Powers who became Chairman of Northwest Biotherapeutics in 2007. The Maryland-based firm is developing experimental therapies for brain cancer and other inoperable tumors. Powers has poured over $20 million in Northwest and continues to be one of its biggest stakeholders.

In an interview, Powers told Reuters, "Biotech is not for the faint of heart. Through two major recessions and pummeling in the capital markets, we've chosen to keep our focus."

From near-closure ten years ago, Northwest is now worth nearly $300 million, with its stock rising 75% this year to trade in the $7 range. This has drawn the attention of institutional investors like Goldman Sachs and Franklin Advisers Inc and that of industry observers even if there are others who believe that Northwest will not go far. For the naysayers, the highly risky nature of coming up with drugs for conditions that are very hard to treat is going to be its downfall, the report said.

However, Northwest is thriving because its brain cancer drug called DCVax-L has been exhibiting very promising trial results among a small sample of patients on the therapy. It has now also started testing DCVax-Direct, a similar therapy that targets solid tumors that surgery cannot remove, the report said.

Summer Street Research Biotech Analyst Carol Werther told Reuters, "If (DCVax-L) has a positive result, it could be the new standard of care for brain cancer and have potential for hundreds of millions of dollars in sales for newly diagnosed patients. And if it works against other solid tumors, it could be a multibillion-dollar product."