At long last it seems that Dendreon and their Provenge drug are getting their just rewards.
An experimental medicine from Dendreon Corp improved survival in men with advanced forms of prostate cancer, the company said on Tuesday, bolstering chances of it becoming the first approved therapeutic vaccine for any type of cancer.
Shares of Dendreon (DNDN.O) more than tripled in heavy morning trading to as high as $22.10 as the study results suggested a revolutionary form of therapy is on the horizon for one of the most common cancers. Unlike traditional vaccines that prevent disease, the company's Provenge medicine treats it.
The FDA doesn't like to approve new forms of therapy so they had a right to be cautious. Now the hard data will come out April 28 at the American Urological Association's annual meeting in Chicago. I think the data will confirm the FDA Advisory panel's findings in 2007 that this drug is safe and it prolongs the life of the people who take it.
We also see a few mea culpas coming from the stock analyst community who either had the stock at a Hold or a Sell for the most part.
Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Joe Pantginis, one of two analysts who had a "sell" rating on Dendreon shares, admitted to getting it wrong.
"While we were wrong on our call for the outcome of the story, seeing the risk as too high, today's news is a great outcome for Dendreon," Pantginis said.
"We are especially excited that the cancer immunotherapy space has finally seen a win in a Phase III study. Importantly, we can now envision the first cancer immunotherapy on the market," he added.
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