Dendreon announces marketing authorization for PROVENGE® in the European Union

SEATTLE, WA USA (Press Release) - September 17, 2013 - Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN) today announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for PROVENGE® (autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells activated with PAP-GM-CSF or sipuleucel-T) dispersion for infusion in the European Union (EU) for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic (non-visceral) castrate resistant prostate cancer in male adults in whom chemotherapy is not yet clinically indicated. This final decision by the EC follows recent positive opinions from both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Advanced Therapy (CAT) and the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommending that PROVENGE be granted marketing authorization in the EU.

The marketing authorization provides approval for the commercialization of PROVENGE in all 28 countries of the EU as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

John H. Johnson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dendreon said, "The marketing authorization of PROVENGE in the EU represents an important achievement for Dendreon. As the first personalized immunotherapy approved for the treatment of mCRPC in Europe, PROVENGE may help extend the lives of appropriate prostate cancer patients." "With sipuleucel-T, we have the potential to create a new treatment paradigm in advanced prostate cancer, with the integration of this novel therapy to harness a patient's own immune system to fight their cancer," said Prof. Karim Fizazi, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Department of Cancer Medicine, The Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, and Full Professor in Oncology, the University of Paris, France.

The European marketing authorization for PROVENGE was granted based upon data from three randomized, placebocontrolled, multi-center Phase III studies, which enrolled 737 patients. In the pivotal Phase III IMPACT study, an improvement in overall survival (OS) was observed, with a median survival of 4.1 months longer in patients who received PROVENGE versus those who received placebo (HR=0.775, 95%-CI 0.614, 0.979, P =0.032). Similar effects were observed in the two supportive studies.

"This milestone demonstrates the importance of providing a new therapeutic option with a differing mechanism of action than other approved treatments for appropriate prostate cancer patients in the EU," said Mark Frohlich, executive vice president of research and development and chief medical officer of Dendreon. "We continue to enroll patients in the EU open-label study, and plan to have a presence at the upcoming European Cancer Organization (ECCO) and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conferences."

Important Safety Information for PROVENGE[1]

PROVENGE is intended solely for autologous use and should under no circumstances be administered to other patients. The safety evaluation of PROVENGE was based on data from 601 prostate cancer patients in four randomized clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance.

PROVENGE should be delayed in patients with active systemic infection until resolution and used with caution in patients with a history of embolic and thrombotic events, including cerebrovascular disease and cardiovascular disorders. Serious adverse reactions reported include acute infusion reactions (occurring within 1 day of infusion), catheter sepsis, staphylococcal bacteremia, myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular events.

The most commonly reported adverse reactions were chills, fatigue, pyrexia (fever), nausea, arthralgia (joint ache), headache, and vomiting.

About Dendreon

Dendreon Corporation is a biotechnology company whose mission is to target cancer and transform lives through the discovery, development, commercialization and manufacturing of novel therapeutics. The Company applies its expertise in antigen identification, engineering and cell processing to produce active cellular immunotherapy (ACI) product candidates designed to stimulate an immune response in a variety of tumor types. Dendreon's first product, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2010. Dendreon is exploring the application of additional ACI product candidates and small molecules for the potential treatment of a variety of cancers. The Company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol DNDN. For more information about the Company and its programs, visit www.dendreon.com/.

References:

  1. PROVENGE Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) for the European Union

Dendreon Corporation
Corporate Communications
Lindsay Rocco, 862-596-1304

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