Dendreon Corporation today announced that it plans to make PROVENGE® (autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells activated with PAP-GM-CSF or sipuleucel-T) available in Europe, beginning with Germany and the United Kingdom.
Dendreon will make PROVENGE commercially available to patients within the approved label through Centers of Excellence using its Contract Manufacturing Organization, PharmaCell. Centers of Excellence are institutions where a high volume of prostate cancer patients are treated by leading prostate cancer experts. These centers will be located in larger cities, which will allow for convenient patient access. In some cases, a Center of Excellence may be a co-op group of institutions. Following the implementation of automation, which will enable Dendreon to manufacture more cost effectively, the Company will explore opportunities to make PROVENGE more broadly available in Europe and other world markets.
“Bringing PROVENGE commercially to Europe marks a major milestone for Dendreon,†said John H. Johnson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dendreon. “Both urology and oncology key opinion leaders in Europe have expressed a desire to have PROVENGE available to their patients and it is evident that there is pre-market demand as the first – and only – personalized immunotherapy approved for the treatment of mCRPC. We are pleased to be able to make PROVENGE available to oncologists and urologists and their prostate cancer patients in this important market.â€