Prescriptions: Medicare Panel Backs Prostate Drug

Saul Kerpelman submits:On March 10, 2011 a Federal Judge in the Southern District of New York issued a ruling in a case involving Medicare coverage for "off label" drugs that may come to have tremendous importance for cancer treatments, and specifically for Dendreon and its recently FDA-approved, revolutionary treatment for prostate cancer, Provenge.

US regulators have approved a ground-breaking treatment for advanced prostate cancer that uses a patient's own immune system to fight the disease, officials said Thursday.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the treatment called Provenge is designed for use by men in the advanced stages of prostate cancer, whose illness has spread to other parts of the body and is resistant to standard hormone treatment.

Smith On Stocks submits: Overview

The drug, Provenge, had already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for certain stages of the cancer.

Analytical Chemist submits:Dendreon (DNDN) is not an attractive stock for a value investor to buy right now. It’s also not attractive for growth investors who value any margin of safety. While Dendreon has a remarkable technology approved in its Provenge treatment for advanced prostate cancer, its sales and earnings prospects based on this treatment are not enough to justify its current stock price.

By Theodore Cohen:One of the more important issues discussed among physicians and investors alike when it comes to Dendreon (DNDN) in general and Provenge in particular is the sequencing of this immunotherapeutic treatment with other agents.

Dendreon said its prostate cancer treatment Provenge prolonged patient survival, providing fuel for a rally in its shares.