I agree with your idea that BAVA and NCI are playing catch up. In the seminar I posted a few weeks ago Hodge/Gulley said they were surprised at a strategy where you would combine 12 agents in one trial (referring to the NCV). Either Hodge or Gulley commented that they are all moving in the same direction, just at different speeds.
Looks like the NCI just picked up their pace.
Combo is where the next 5-10 years is heading. How many agents and how quickly you add new agents to trials will be interesting to watch.
In this trial, nantcell has someone else exploring IL-15 at no cost to them. I'm sure they'd like to see more of those types of trials. I think Keytruda is in hundreds of trials- you get a massive R&D capability to explore without having to spend money.