Dendreon's Provenge: 38% Increase in Survival Rates of Advanced Prostate Cancer Patients

Just wait until the opening bell starts ringing Wednesday, Dendreon (NASDAQ:DNDN) will be counting their money like Nino Brown from a high-rise penthouse on Cloud 9.  Provenge is a winner and appears to be on its way to become the first approved therapeutic vaccine for any type of cancer.

Dendreon shares were halted after they plunged 45% in a two-minute span to $11.81 on Nasdaq in the hour leading up to release of the study results. When trading resumed after hours, the shares rose 130% to a new record high of $27.22.

Here's the good news, not just for traders and shareholders, but for the true winners --  Prostate Cancer Patients.

From Reuters -- An experimental cancer vaccine developed by the biotech firm Dendreon improved three-year survival of patients with advanced prostate cancer by 38 percent compared with a placebo, in what could be a breakthrough for tens of thousands of men who suffer from the disease.

Patients in the 512-subject study who received Provenge from Dendreon lived an average 4.1 months longer than those who received a placebo with no major adverse side effects in the late-stage clinical trial, researchers said.

Patients lived 25.8 months after receiving the vaccine, compared with 21.7 months for those taking placebos, according to data from the closely watched study unveiled Tuesday.

“This is a game-changer in my business,” said Dr. David Penson, associate professor of urology at the University of Southern California, who presented the data at the American Urological Association meeting in Chicago.

The company’s stock has been on a roller-coaster ride, rising from $2.55 in March to $25 earlier on Tuesday, though it plunged 45 percent and trading was halted just before the news was released.

The results further raise the likelihood that Provenge will become the first approved therapeutic vaccine for any type of cancer. Dendreon plans to seek federal approval of Provenge, known chemically as sipuleucel-T, in the fourth quarter.

Dr. George Hemstreet, chief of urology at University of Nebraska Medical Center who attended the meeting, called the results “a pretty significant breakthrough.”

“The fact that a vaccine would work in patients with large tumor burdens is really amazing,” Dr. Hemstreet said. “These are elderly patients, and they are very fragile, so anything that has minimal toxicity is an improvement.”