For those of you beating the DNDN drum...

They essentially said that Provenge is "hocus-pocus" and that the drug will fail miserably.  The research on Provenge claims that the drug can help prostate cancer patients live an additional 4 months than prior treatments at an outrageous cost.

The evidence to back this up was an extremely small study.  What did this study prove?  The PSA (prostate-specific antigen) number of the patients did not drop AT ALL.  The scans taken to reveal tumor size showed ZERO signs of shrinkage.  These are the two primary measurements of how prostate cancer patients are doing with their treatment.  So what explanation is there for the additional 4 months of life... NONE.

The FDA then said it seemed to be strange, and wanted the results to be repeated.  Again, Denderon had a very small and limited study in which they said the results were the same.

Bottom line is PSA and Tumor Size were unchanged.  The consensus as far as Medical Oncologists go is that Provenge is a joke.  Zytiga has proven results, and seems to be by far the drug of choice when dealing with terminal prostate cancer.

Just thought I would pass this information along, and see if there was any refuting this... or reason to believe Provenge is a miracle drug/cure. 

We had a fight here prior to passage and I thought it was also not a worthy reason to own the stock. I just wish I had shorted over 50.

I also seem to remember it got shut down prior to being approved, this was its second or third trip to the FDA..

The doc mentioned a lot of drugs that pass the FDA are "politically motivated" essentially stating that drugs are passed so the major cancer institutes can claim look you give us X number of dollars this year and we made so much progress... this year we need X number of dollars to further that research.

They were asked to repeat it as the results made no sense, and again a small trial was conducted in which the results were not nearly concrete but the drug was passed.

Provenge will not last long...

You are an idiot.  Of course all of these organizations are fighting for every last dollar of government money they can get for research. Diabetes, Cancer, Hypertension, Heart Disease, Stroke, you name it they are working on it, so why wouldn't they present their case for more money.

Put it this way.  Things like breast cancer and testicular cancer used to be an absolute DEATH SENTENCE.  Just like AIDS used to be an absolute DEATH SENTENCE.  Through the power of research and science these illnesses are on the course to eradication.

You talk to the people who have survived stage 3 cancers thanks to chemotherapy and radiation and ask them if they are against medical and pharmaceutical research.

You seem like a very bitter person with a vendetta against success. I know you dubbed that you would NEVER get cancer, but according so statistics there is a 50% chance that somewhere down the road you will be looking to the help of a medical oncologist.  I hope you don't choose the non treatment route and die a miserable painful death.  (Of course let's hope you never are faced with this situation!)

Have a good one my friend, and by the way your comments on Michael Moore were among the most intelligent you have ever made.