Pharma Strategy Blog

Today's post is going to be relatively short as I'm knee deep (literally) reviewing poster handouts from the recent AACR meeting, but while reading translational medicine data I came across a poster on sipuleucel-T basically explaining that it engages the immune system and activates or stimulates priming of T-cells in asymptomatic disease.  

Like many out there I'm quietly wondering what will happen tomorrow with Dendreon's PDUFA date due on Saturday May 1st.  We can reasonably assume a response on sipuleucel-T (Provenge) might be forthcoming on either Friday or Monday.

Given the gap in available treatments between castration resistance (CRPC) and stage IV metastatic disease, I'm hoping Provenge receives approval on the basis of the four month survival advantage after a somewhat rocky path along the journey.  Approval could well kick off what may well turn out to be a new era, with other therapies also in late stage development, namely OrthoBiotech/Cougar's abiraterone and Medivation/Astellas' MDV3100, which are both seeking to test their efficacy and safety and in phase III trials for CRPC.

Non-approval could well be a disaster for a company who has invested so much into immunotherapy as their lead product, investors will likely be very unhappy and Monday could turn into a blood bath.  I'm more inclined to be positive though, and my educated guess is that approval will be forthcoming given Dendreon met the pre-defined FDA targets.

We shall see.

{UPDATE: The FDA officially approved Dendreon's Provenge today 29-4-10, see comments below for FDA links and materials including the PI.}