Today, May 16, 2012, Dendreon, the makers of Provenge, disclosed a new analysis of data of its pivotal 512-patient study of men with castrate resistant prostate cancer who received sipuleucel-T (Provenge). The new analysis separated the men in the study into four quartiles based on their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) scores. The initial design of the [...]
Understanding and deciding on appropriate treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer can be confusing. All the treatments come with side effects and one never knows what the benefits might be for an individual. Even with good clinical trials, men with advanced prostate cancer still need to navigate a most unclear path. Provenge, ever since [...]
For those who might be interested in the April 23, 2012 edition of The New Yorker Magazine, Jerome Groopman has written an excellent article on the history and current state of Immunotherapy. The article is entitled "The T-Cell Army" and it is on page 24. Not only does the article review the history (going all [...]
According to an article written by Reuters some doctors have raised doubts about the efficacy of Provenge, known scientifically as sipuleucel-T. Prostate cancer vaccine Provenge has long incited passions unlike any other cancer therapy and the story seems to continue even to today. The current issue has been raised by Marie Huber, a trained scientist [...]
As a follow up to my last post about the three posters that appeared at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium meeting I am going to share with you a video interview with Dr. Chadi Nabhan. Dr. Nabhan talks about his presentation about the phase III results of the Provenge IMPACT [...]
The American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) posted on Wednesday the abstracts from the Genitourinary Conference which is scheduled for February 2-4 in San Francisco, California. Dendreon, the creator of the immunotherapy Provenge for men with metastatic castrate resistant advanced prostate cancer has three very interesting and informative posters which will appear at the conference. [...]
From very early on, researchers and doctors have dreamed of using the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. The big question has been why doesn’t the immune system attack the tumor cells that invade healthy tissue? The really good news is that finally science is catching up with this vision. Therapeutic cancer vaccines that [...]
Many of us are aware of the newly approved drug Zytiga (abiraterone). It had demonstrated a survival advantage for men who are castrate resistant and failed chemotherapy. Zytiga was approved by the FDA in April and many of us with advanced prostate cancer have been taking advantage of the drug. You can learn more about [...]
Yesterday Dendreon, the producers of Provenge, received word from the FDA that their plant in California had been approved to manufacture Provenge. This afternoon they received a positive response from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that a final National Coverage Decision (NCD) for Provenge has been issued requiring Medicare contractors to cover [...]
Early this evening Dendreon received the nod from the FDA to use their new manufacturing plant in Seal Beach, California. The approval of this plant will allow the company to now service the men with advanced prostate cancer in Hawaii as well as more efficiently service those in Western United States with Provenge. When coupling [...]
