Dendreon Corporation
(NDAQ:DNDN) shares moved up $0.27, or 4.42%, to $6.34 today after the
company announced new study data on Provenge at the American Urological
Association on Sunday. The company's board also agreed to layoff 40
workers in an effort to reduce its cash burn rate while it works
towards FDA approval. The news comes after an extremely volatile couple
of months for the company, whose shares ranged between $3.57 and $25.25.
The
new study data on Provenge was disclosed in the abstract "Advanced
Prostate Cancer Patients who Receive Sipuleuc-T followed by Docetaxel
Have Prolonged Survival" authored by Daniel Petrylak, MD. According to
Petrylak, the results of the 82-patient study have suggested that the
use of Provenge as a first-line treatment followed by chemotherapy
docetaxel upon disease progression may provide patients with
substantially prolonged survival benefits.
Dendreon also has
strong support from patients who have begun lobbying the FDA to get
Provenge approved. In fact, a small group of prostate cancer patients
are meeting the FDA Commissioner during the next few months to discuss
the matter. Meanwhile, they have setup
ProvengeNow.org in an effort to attract further interest from patients to help their cause.
Many
doctors that attended the American Urological Association's meeting
today (during which Provenge was supposed to be launched) also
indicated their disappointment. Many of their patients had been
anticipating the new drug and were extremely disappointed when the FDA
decided to delay their ruling by several months to a year. Whether or
not any of these efforts materialize in the form of a quicker approval
remains to be seen; however, DNDN is definitely a stock with great
upside potential once Provenge hits the market. Combined, these factors
make DNDN a stock
worth watching!
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