Dendreon In The News
(RTTNews) - Thursday, while addressing the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, Dendreon Corp.'s (DNDN) chief executive Mitchell Gold said that the final, late-stage trial results of the company's investigational prostate cancer vaccine Provenge are expected by April of this year. Earlier, the company was expecting the final analysis to be completed in mid-2009. Shares spiked over 6% in the after-hours.
Provenge, an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine belongs to a new class of therapy known as Active Cellular Immunotherapy. It works by stimulating the immune system to recognize a protein known as the prostatic acid phosphatase or PAP, which is found in about 95% of all prostate cancer cells and attacks the cancer cells.
There are two types of vaccines namely therapeutic and prophylactic. While a therapeutic cancer vaccine is given to patients to treat existing cancers, a prophylactic cancer vaccine is given to healthy subjects to prevent infection with cancer-causing viruses. Merck & Co. Inc's (MRK) Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Cervarix, which are approved to prevent cervical cancer, are examples of prophylactic cancer vaccine.
In October of 2008, an independent data monitoring committee, or IDMC, completed encouraging interim analysis of the Phase 3 trial dubbed IMPACT (IMmunotherapy for Prostate AdenoCarcinoma Treatment, also known as D9902B) designed to assess the safety and efficacy of the Provenge in men with metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer.
The primary end point of the IMPACT study is overall survival, and time to disease progression is the secondary endpoint.
Hormone resistant prostate cancer commonly referred to as Androgen independent prostate cancer, or AIPC, is an advanced stage of prostate cancer in which the tumor growth is no longer regulated by androgens, or male hormones.
According to the interim analysis results revealed last October, advanced prostate cancer patients treated with Provenge had a 20% reduction in the risk of death, compared to patients treated with a placebo. No safety concerns were observed by the IDMC. Dendreon at that time said that the trial will be successful if Provenge can reduce the risk of death by 22%, compared to placebo.
Ongoing Provenge Trials
Besides the late-stage trial IMPACT, Provenge is also being studied in two mid-stage clinical studies.
-- ProACT (PROstate Active Cellular Therapy) or P07-2 trial in men with metastatic, androgen independent prostate cancer and
-- NeoACT (NEOadjuvant Active Cellular immunoTherapy), or P07-1 trial in men with localized prostate cancer who are scheduled to undergo a radical prostatectomy.
In The Pipeline...
Other than Provenge, Dendreon's yet another cancer vaccine, which is at the forefront, is Lapuleucel-T also known as Neuvenge, for breast cancer. According to results published in August 20, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, in a phase I clinical trial of Neuvenge, four of 18 breast cancer patients who were administered the Neuvenge vaccine had their tumors shrunk or stabilized.
Trp-p8-related compound, known as D3263 is another investigational drug on which Dendreon is "spending fair amount of resources right now." According to Dendreon, D3263 could have therapeutic benefits in lung, breast, prostate and colon cancers. Last May, the company presented pre-clinical data showing that its Trp-p8-related compound, D-3263, could be beneficial in patients with BPH (benign enlargement of the prostate). The company filed an investigational new drug application in December 2008 to evaluate D-3263 in a Phase 1 dose escalation study in cancer.
According to research reports, there is enormous market for BPH or benign prostatic hyperplasia as more than 50% of men in their 60s and as many as 90% in their 70s and 80s have some symptoms of BPH. The National Institutes of Health estimates that there are currently more than 28 million men suffering from BPH in the United States. Common symptoms of BPH include urinating problems and in severe cases, urinary tract infections, bladder or kidney damage, bladder stones, and incontinence.
Some of the current treatment options available for BPH are Boehringer Ingelheim's Flomax, Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) Cardura, Abbott Labs (ABT) Hytrin, Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) Proscar and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Avodart.
Provenge - A new hope?
Though there are a number of potentially curative treatment options for early stage prostate cancer, the main alternatives available to men with metastasized prostate cancer known as Androgen Independent Prostate Cancer or AIPC include radiation, and Taxotere, a chemotherapy drug made by Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) in combination with a steroid drug prednisone. But these treatments generally are considered to have severe side effects.
Taxotere injection in combination with prednisone, which prolongs the life span of men with advanced prostate cancer by 2.5 months, is associated with toxicities such as edema, liver damage, and neutropenia and carries a black box warning.
Since there are no treatment options currently for Androgen Independent Prostate Cancer, Provenge promises a hope for men who are battling advanced stage prostate cancer, without having to suffer the side effects of traditional chemotherapy.
According to some analysts, Provenge has U.S. sales potential of $1 billion a year. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, next to lung cancer. It is estimated that 29,000 men die of prostate cancer every year. Statistics reveal that over 2 million men in the United States have been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Will the much-touted Provenge be able to pass the FDA muster this year? Well.... the final trial results due out in April will decide its fate. Till then, it's a waiting game for Dendreon.
DNDN has been trading in the range of $4.44 - $4.75 in the last 12 months. The stock closed Thursday's trade at $4.61, up 0.22% on an above-average volume of 2.48 million shares. In the after-hours, the stock gained 6.29% and was at $4.90.
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