Dendreon’s prostate cancer vaccine significantly prolonged the overall survival among 500 men with advanced, metastic  prostate cancer  compared to a placebo, the company said Tuesday.

Results were “robust” and “unambiguous,” a spokesman said during today’s (Tues April 14) company broadcast conference call with biotech investment analysts.

“The successful outcome from the Phase 3 IMPACT study provides validation of the long-pursued goal of harnessing the human immune system against a patient’s own cancer,” Dendreon Chief Executive Mitchell Gold said in a statement.

“Survival is the gold standard outcome for oncology clinical trials, and overall survival was the primary endpoint of the IMPACT trial. The positive results from this landmark study provide confirmatory evidence demonstrating that treatment with PROVENGE may prolong survival,” Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold said.

The Seattle-based drugmaker said the phase III study of Provenge, known as IMPACT, met its primary endpoint with statistical significance. Details of the study are being withheld so that they can be presented at the American Urological Association’s Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 28.

Received from Halle Tecco, founder of YOGA BEAR, a non profit offering free yoga classes for cancer survivors:

Hello, my name is Halle and I’m the Executive Director of Yoga Bear, a non-profit that provides free yoga to cancer survivors across the US, through 125 partner yoga studios.  Most of our participants are female, and we’re trying to get more men involved! Since prostate cancer is so common for men, we wanted to reach out to your organization.  Could you please let your community know that we offer free passes to yoga studios for survivors interested in trying yoga?
Thank you,

http://www.yogabear.org/
blog.yogabear.org http://blog.yogabear.org

Abstracts for presentations to be made at this year’s annual general meeting of ASCO, The American Society of Clinical Oncology, are now online.

For prostate cancer abstracts go to Genitourinary Cancers Symposium and browse 226 titles under

Early/Localized disease, Locally Advanced/Recurrent/Advanced disease, and Biology

and 224  titles under

Epidemiology, Risk factors, Prevention, and Health Services Research

The meeting is scheduled for May 29-June 2 | Orlando, FL. The overall theme of this year’s meeting is “Personalizing Cancer Care.”

SEATTLE, April 13, 2009 -Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN) will host a conference call tomorrow, Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at 9:00 AM ET (6:00 AM PT) to review the outcome of the FINAL analysis of its IMPACT (IMmunotherapy for Prostate AdenoCarcinoma Treatment, also known as D9902B) clinical trial of PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), the Company’s investigational active cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

Those interested may access the call with the following information:

Time:         9:00 AM ET/6:00 AM PT

Date:          April 14, 2009

Dial-in:        1-877-419-6594 (domestic) or +1-719-325-4855 (international)

Webcast:       www.dendreon.com (homepage and investor relations section)

A recorded rebroadcast will be available for interested parties unable to participate in the live conference call by dialing 888-203-1112 or 719-457-0820 for international callers; the conference ID number is 8182435. The replay will be available from 12:00 pm ET on April 14, 2009 until midnight ET on April 16, 2009.  In addition the webcast will be archived for on-demand listening for 30 days at www.dendreon.com.

Recent stories on bisphosphonate side effects might be signaling the advent of a new, superior drug, but will Halozyme’s rHuPH20 enzyme solve the problem of jaw necrosis?

Drug development companies operate within the overall consumer culture. We all want better drugs, better everything. Generic Fosamax (alendronate) now costs just $4 at Wal-Mart, Kroger and other retail pharmacies. What might make right now a better than usual time to get word out to the masses that Fosamax carries some dreadful, if quite rare, risks?

Diane Wysowski of the FDA’s division of drug risk assessment says researchers should check into potential links between oral bisphosphonate drugs and cancer of the esophagus.

Merck’s oral osteoporosis drug Fosamax may carry a risk for esophageal cancer, Wysowski writes in a letter to January 1, 2009 New England Journal of Medicine.

Seven percent of adults and 19 percent of children taking chemotherapy drugs in outpatient clinics or at home were given the wrong dose or experienced other mistakes involving their medications, according to a new study led by Kathleen E. Walsh, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and published in the January 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Prostate Research Group, Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, reports in January 2009 Int J Cancer on their team’s efforts to “assess the effects and mechanism of action” of a non steroidal antiflammatory drug (NSAID) called NO-sulindac on the PC-3 prostate cancer cell line under hypoxic conditions.”

Below are a graph and a table of the effect of Ferring’s degarelix on testosterone compared with the effect of Lupron. On December 24th Ferring announced that FDA has approved degarelix for the treatment of hormonally sensitive advanced prostate cancer.

Degarelix (generic name) is a GnRH receptor antagonist. The company says: “Degarelix achieves medical castration differently than LHRH agonists, specifically by binding reversibly to GnRH receptors on cells in the pituitary gland, quickly reducing the release of gonadotropins and consequently testosterone.” How quickly? Like this :

Degarelix versus Lupron Effect: Percent drop in Testosterone drop over 28 days

Jenny Potter in The North Bay Nugget, Ontario, Canada, reports “Another obstacle is out of the way for men at risk of developing prostate cancer.” Unfortunately, this is not quite yet the case. As Potter says:

The Ontario government recently announced it will cover the cost of the prostate-specific antigen tests when performed at laboratories.

Currently, publicly funded tests are only available in hospitals, but picking up the tab for those performed in laboratories will make it more convenient for rural patients to be tested.

Trouble is, as Potter’s report goes on to explain:

Men must meet a list of criteria in order to avoid paying $30 for the test at a local laboratory.

Patients showing symptoms of prostate cancer, who have received a diagnosis or who are directly related to someone with the disease qualify to be tested for free.