24/7 Wall St. » DNDN

Dendreon Gets Prostate Cancer Competition for Provenge from Bayer’s Xofigo

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:15:46 +0000

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) has been facing problems getting its Provenge sales for advanced metastatic prostate cancer through to the market. Even a direct to consumer advertising campaign has so far failed to help. Now we have word that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Xofigo, Bayer’s drug to treat certain types of advanced prostate cancer.

Xofigo is meant to treat metastatic prostate cancer, but only cancers that have spread into the bones rather than into other organs. The treatment also is approved only for those who have received other therapies aimed at lowering testosterone. The drug is designed to help deliver radiation directly to bone tumors, limiting damage to other tissue and organs. The drug was originally called Alpharadin or radium-223 chloride.

What is interesting is that this approval appears to be about three months ahead of the drug approval deadline in August. The FDA had granted a priority review status to Bayer and partner Algeta in Norway.

Today’s approval should only be a surprise as far as the timing is concerned. Bayer and Algeta ended the late-stage study as its independent monitoring committee determined that the drug already met its primary endpoint and increased the overall survival by 44%, raising the median average to 14 months versus 11.2 months in the placebo group. The drug also lowered pain in the bones for patients.

Dendreon investors already felt the bulk of their pain. Now the stock is still up by $0.01 at $4.18 on 3.1 million shares. Its 52-week trading range is $3.69 to $9.03. Again, the big surprise here is the timing of the FDA approval rather than the FDA drug approval itself.

Filed under: Healthcare Tagged: DNDN

Closing Bell for Friday on Wall Street: Markets Open Mixed, Close Higher

Paul Ausick — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:07:01 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning and failed to find a direction driver throughout the trading day. In Europe, Germany reported a stronger-than-expected trade surplus, while the U.K.’s trade deficit was slightly larger than expected. Italian industrial production slipped and the county’s 3-month debt yields were significantly higher than in the previous auction. Yields on 12-month bills were substantially lower though. In Asia, Hong Kong GDP rose less than expected and Japan reported a wider current account surplus. The U.S. dollar now buys more than 100 Japanese yen (more coverage here). In the U.S., the U.S. Treasury reported a larger-than-expected budget surplus for April (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.43% today, now at 83.1490. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.3% at 634.91. WTI crude oil closed down 0.4%, at $96.04 a barrel, and closed the week 0.5% higher. Brent crude trades down 0.7% at $103.79 a barrel. Natural gas is down 1.8% today at about $3.91 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 2.2% today at $1,436.60, and tallied a loss for the week of nearly 2%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 36 points to 15,118.49 (0.24%), the NASDAQ rose more than 27 points (0.80%) to 3,436.58, and the S&P 500 rose 0.43% or about 7 points to 1,633.70.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including:

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup;
L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Lazard (formerly Limited Brands Inc.);
Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) started as ‘outperform’ at Oppenheimer;
American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) raised to ‘buy’ at Citigroup; and
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) raised to ‘hold’ at SocGen.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading:

magicJack Vocaltec Ltd. (NASDAQ: CALL) is down 12.4% at $16.86;
Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: UEPS) is up 0.4% at $7.82;
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) is up 4.6% at $14.55;
Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) is up 4% at $766.98 after posting a new 52-week high of $769.67 earlier today (more coverage here);
TheStreet Inc. (NASDAQ: TST) is down 0.2% at $1.90; and
Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) is down 2.1% at $3.23.

Before markets open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear notable earnings from only Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW). Another mining firm that trades in London, Lonmin PLC, reports earnings Monday morning. Lonmin, a platinum miner, could face some of the same difficulties we noted in our story today about the platinum sector.

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is up 31%% at $7.32. The rare earths miner reported solid results after markets closed last night. More coverage here.

Warner Chilcott plc (NASDAQ: WCRX) is up 24.1% at $18.62. The generic drugs maker is said to be in merger discussions with Actavis Inc. (NYSE: ACT).

Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) is down 25.4% at $1.35. The drug maker said in its 10-K filing today that the February recall of its Omontys drug “has severely harmed our business, financial condition and prospects as a going concern.”

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Retail sales
10:00 a.m. – Business inventories
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Have a great weekend!

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ACT, AFFY, AWK, BA, CALL, DNDN, HL, LTD, MCP, NVDA, PCLN, SLW, TST, UEPS, WCRX, WDAY

Top Analyst Downgrades and Stocks to Sell: Dean Foods, Dendreon, Mylan and More

Jon C. Ogg — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:45:11 +0000

Investors frequently see analyst upgrades and Buy ratings from Wall Street research calls, but they often do not get to see the so-called Sell ratings. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many fresh research calls each and every day to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks and we have broken out the negative analyst calls today. These are this Friday’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research notes from Wall Street.

AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) was cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was cut to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) was cut to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Citigroup and Canaccord Genuity cut its target to $5 after disappointing sales.

Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) was started as Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Lazard.

Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL) was started as Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTR) was cut to Hold from Buy at Needham.

Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ: RCII) was cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Shire PLC (NASDAQ: SHPG) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Techne Corp. (NASDAQ: TECH) was named Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

These are of course not Sell ratings, but here are four analyst stock picks from this week that could double in share price.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls Tagged: AES, CVC, DF, DNDN, FRX, LTD, MYL, OPTR, RCII, SHPG, TECH

Dendreon Shows Poor Provenge Sales, Implosion Risk Rising

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:25:52 +0000

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) just cannot catch a break. Despite having what was supposed to be one of the best late-stage prostate treatments in Provenge, sales just are not coming in as expected. Dendreon’s earnings report left a lot to be desired. Earnings in the first quarter came in at a loss of $72.0 million. That translates to -$0.48 in earnings per share. About the only good news is that Dendreon’s loss was narrower than the $103.9 million, or $0.70 per share, loss in the same quarter a year ago.

Our take is worse than income being lower than expectations. Dendreon said that net product revenues fell to $67.6 million, compared to $82.0 million for the same quarter a year ago. Dendreon is supposed to be seeing sales decline marginally now and then rise through time, but this is down a sharp 17.6% year over year. Here are the total revenues in each of the past four quarterly reports, in order of most recent first: $85.493 million, $77.971 million, $79.992 million and $82.074 million. Compare $67.6 million to these and you will see that sales were the worst over the entire quarterly cycle course of 2012.

Thomson Reuters was calling for -$0.48 per share in earnings and sales of $80.15 million. Some analysts were calling for sales up in the $85 million and $86 million range. The long and short of the matter is that it is just far too soon for Dendreon’s sales cycle to already be petering out.

Dendreon claims to have added 33 net new accounts in the first quarter. This brings the total number of accounts that have infused to 835. Dendreon is claiming that it can reduce its cost of goods sold to less than 50% of net product revenue in the third quarter 2013 at its current forecast levels.

You might expect that the reaction is bad, and that is an understatement. Dendreon’s stock price is down more than 15% to $3.99, against a 52-week range of $3.69 to $9.34. Note that the market cap here is down to $711 million. With the company losing so much money, it will be very hard to get excited that it had $337.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments at the end of the quarter. Keep in mind that this balance compared to $429.8 million as of December 31, 2012, and that translates to a quarterly cash burn rate of about $92.5 million.

Our take here is simple, even if the end game is uncertain. Dendreon’s cash burn rate puts it at financial implosion in less than a year. The company claims that its cost of goods sold will be much lower, but if it cannot generate a substantial amount higher in Provenge sales, then the company is going have to try to save itself by selling itself. Unfortunately for shareholders, this might be a takeunder, unless Provenge proves to be potent against other forms of cancer than just late-stage prostate cancer.

Filed under: Active Trader, Biotech, Earnings, Earnings Warning, Healthcare Tagged: DNDN, featured

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ARO, MO, ADM, ATML, CL, CVRR, DNDN, IGT, IP, NKE, LULU, LOW, LSI, OKS, SNDK, TEF, TPH, YUM, CQP, LNG)

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:25:18 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) named Bear of the Day as expensive even after shares are down 50% from last year at Zacks.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) cut to Market Perform at BMO.

Atmel Corp. (NASDAQ: ATML) cut to Market Perform at FBR.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) cut to Neutral at BofA Merrill Lynch.

CVR Refining L.P. (NYSE: CVRR) started as Neutral at Credit Suisse, started as Buy at UBS, started as Neutral at Citigroup and started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) maintained Neutral but raised price target to $6 from $4 at Credit Suisse.

International Gaming (NYSE: IGT) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) started as Buy at Jefferies.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) maintained Buy with $44 price target at Argus.

LSI Corp. (NASDAQ: LSI) cut to Market Perform at FBR.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) started as Outperform at Cowen.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) started as Outperform at Cowen.

ONEOK Partners L.P. (NYSE: OKS) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) raised to Outperform at RBC.

Telefonica S.A. (NYSE: TEF) raised to Market Perform at Bernstein.

TRI Pointe Homes Inc. (NYSE: TPH) was started yesterday by others but was initiated as Buy at Citigroup.

YUM! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) reiterated Hold but lowered 2013 earnings estimates by 15% at Argus.

Credit Suisse on the Cheniere plays: Cheniere Energy Partners L.P. (NYSEMKT: CQP) maintained Outperform but raised target to $29 from $25; Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT: LNG) reiterated Outperform and raised target to $33 from $25 with long-term value possibly $48 if all plans come to fruition.

BofA/Merrill Lynch has resumed coverage of the public exchanges in a post-NYSE world (full summary).

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: ADM, ARO, ATML, CL, CQP, CVRR, DNDN, IGT, IP, LNG, LOW, LSI, LULU, MO, NKE, OKS, SNDK, TEF, TPH, YUM

The Top 20 Must-Watch Earnings for the Week Ahead

Jon C. Ogg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:03:29 +0000

The week ahead is going to have many key earnings reports. Retail is heavily represented, while technology and banking giants are non-existent. Some of these are stocks which can move big on earnings just alone and others are expected to be sector-influencing stocks that can bleed over into peers. As a reminder, the coming week marks the end of February and brings the start of March.

We have not given detail on every single one but we have given a breakdown or input on those where we have some color to add. The earnings estimates are from Thomson Reuters. We would note that some earnings dates (and the estimates) may change or may have already changed.

As a reminder, retail stocks are complaining about the end of payroll tax holidays on Joe Public and they are also commenting about tax refunds hurting their sales. So far the thought is that this will last one quarter but the verdict is still out on that.

Monday, Feb. 25

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) -$0.56 EPS… This is all about PROVENGE sales rather than earnings and how well the doctors are starting to warm to the drug. Shares are under $6.00 and sales estimates are almost $83 million. For 2013 those estimates are $372 million.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW) $0.23 EPS… This will act as a precursor to Home Depot.

Tuesday, Feb. 26

American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) $0.42 EPS… Shares have backed off of the highs by $5 but at $74.50 there is almost $10 of upside to the consensus analyst target price.

American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK) $0.32 EPS… This is the largest public water utility in America worth $7 billion now. At $39.66 late Friday it is 0.5% from a new all-time high.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) $1.76 EPS… The solar leader has pulled back more than 5% but at $33.80 it is still over $7 above the consensus analyst price target. As a reminder, 2012 was the peak for revenue and 2011 was the peak for earnings. Expect declines in 2013.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) $0.64 EPS… At $65.65, the analyst price target is only $3 higher.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) $1.99 EPS… Macy’s has pulled back more than 5% to $39.25 and the consensus target is $45.50.

Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) $6.52 EPS… This online travel giant is worth more than most of the airlines combined and at $683 its 52-week high is $774.96 and the consensus price target from analysts is $762.50.

Wednesday, Feb. 27

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) $0.99 EPS… This dollar (more or less) store is down 15% from its peak when valuations became stretched. If the economy is weakening again, the dollar stores might become winners again. That being said, the woes of Wal-Mart overlap the same customers here.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) $0.03 EPS… Wow, a profit expected on a non-GAAP basis. At $5.80 this has more than doubled off of the 2012 lows but its consensus price target is right at $5.75 right now.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) -$0.23 EPS… This remains under a heavy short interest as Ron Johnson’s turnaround was not a straight-line up. Shares have been cut in half from last year’s peak and the $22.40 price is almost $4 over the consensus analyst price.

Sturm Ruger & Co. (NYSE: RGR) $0.82 EPS… Under gun control efforts the guidance will be more than interesting. That being said, the last quarter should show huge gains due to the mad rush of gun buying in the last 90 days.

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) $1.47 EPS

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) $0.81 EPS

Thursday, Feb. 28

Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) $0.54 EPS… The story that Wall Street cares about is the BN.com sales and the e-book sales. The company is expected to lose money for the April-2013 year at -$1.06 EPS.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) $1.54 EPS… With shares around $17 all that really matters now is the potential buyout. It is too soon to see how the price matching efforts go.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) $0.71 EPS… The turnaround was monumental but has since stalled as far as the continued gains, With a $15 billion market cap that may be a problem.

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) -$0.31 EPS… The rare earths leader in America is a revenue story right now and sales are expected to be almost $166 million. Losses are expected to grow to -$0.55 EPS for 2013 versus -$0.26 EPS for 2013. We caution that after a capital raise sometimes the analysts do not get their numbers right or they get surprised by the balance sheet changes.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) $0.40 EPS… At a billion-times earnings (over 100-times) it has to beat earnings and sales estimates of $830.8 million AND has to raise guidance. At $170 its 52-week range is $120.18 to $178.91 and the consensus analyst target is $183.62.

The Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) $0.02 EPS… Barron’s recently said the turnaround is real this time (again). Credit Suisse disagrees with the call as its downgrade to Underperform from an already-cautious Neutral hit the stock on Friday. At $5.45 its 52-week range is $4.09 to $5.81 and the consensus analyst target is $5.23.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Calendar, Earnings Tagged: AMT, AWK, BBY, BKS, CRM, DLTR, DNDN, featured, FSLR, GPS, GRPN, HD, JCP, LOW, M, MCP, PCLN, RGR, TGT, TJX, WEN

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (CTL, SCHW, CL, DELL, DNDN, ETFC, JCP, LEAP, MAS, NVDA, OII, PLCM, PBH, PG, LMT, RAX, AMTD, VZ)

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:45:10 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) cut to Neutral at J.P. Morgan, cut to Reduce at Nomura and cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.

The Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) started as Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) started as Sell at Canaccord Genuity.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) cut to Sell at Maxim Group.

E*TRADE Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) started as Underperform with $10 target at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) named as Bear of the Day with quote, “This turn-around may take a little longer than expected. Is now the right time to take risk on in this struggling retailer?” by Zacks Investment Research.

Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS) raised to Buy with $25 target at Argus.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) cut to Hold at Needham.

Oceaneering International Inc. (NYSE: OII) removed from Conviction Buy List and downgraded to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Polycom Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Prestige Brands Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PBH) named Bull of the Day with quote, “Their products are probably in and around your house; should their stock be in your portfolio?” by Zacks Investment Research.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) cut to Neutral at Cowen.

Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) raised to Outperform after huge sell-off at Raymond James.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NYSE: AMTD) started as Buy with a $22 target at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) raised to Outperform at Raymond James.

Here are six value stocks that lowered earnings estimates but have great near-term upside according to UBS.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AMTD, CL, CTL, DELL, DNDN, ETFC, JCP, LEAP, LMT, MAS, NVDA, OII, PBH, PG, PLCM, RAX, SCHW, VZ

Today’s Market Winners and Losers

Samuel Weigley — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:36:45 +0000

The stock market is down Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.09%, the Nasdaq down 0.57% and the S&P 500 down 0.33%. Today’s winners include a smartphone manufacturer gearing up to release a new phone and a biotechnology company optimistic about one of its staple drugs. Today’s sole loser is another smartphone manufacturer that cut orders due to less than expected demand.

These are Monday’s biggest winners and loser.

Biggest Winners

Shares of Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) are up 6.71% to $14.47 on trading volume of 50.2 million shares. The company’s shares are soaring on industry news, including the fact that Sprint-Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) would carry its new Blackberry 10. The 52-week high is $17.96.

Shares of Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) are up 3.41% to $6.38 in trading volume of 8.3 million shares. The biotechnology company’s shares are on optimism for higher demand for Provenge, the company’s prostate-cancer drug. The 52-week high is $17.04.

Biggest Loser

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are down 3.14% to $503.94 on trading volume of 10 million shares. Reports of weaker than expected demand for the iPhone have caused the company to cut orders for certain components of the phone. The 52-week low is $419.55.

Follow Samuel on Twitter: SWeigley

Filed under: General Tagged: AAPL, DNDN, RIMM, S

More Hope for Cancer Vaccines in 2013 (UBS, GSK, DNDN, AMGN)

Lee Jackson — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:04:04 +0000

Cancer ranks on the list of global killers as number two. Over the years, great strides have been made not only in cancer treatment but in survival rates for many different forms of the disease. Many false starts have occurred in the creation of a vaccine for cancer. Now it seems possible that 2013 may be the year when a successful vaccine is approved for use and treatment.

Despite advances in medical care and treatment of cancer, a very high need remains for a vaccine treatment. Current forms of cancer treatment like radiation, chemo and surgery can be successful. But they also can inflict tremendous side effects on patients regardless of the treatment outcome.

Cancer cells grow and multiply because the immune system does not recognize them as foreign. It has long been thought in the medical community that cancer vaccines and additional immunotherapies may be the key to solving the cancer riddle. Analysts at UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) think 2013 may be the year for progress.

UBS surveyed not only pharmaceutical companies working on vaccines, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well, looking for their vision of success as well as what prompted failures in the past. They took an in-depth look at the FDA’s “Guidance on Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines,” in addition to an exhausting review of clinical data and trials designs to determine the likelihood of success in 2013.

The 2010 approval of Dendreon Corp.’s (NASDAQ: DNDN) Provenge validated the concept of using antigen-based immunotherapies. Currently 35% of all vaccines in development are for cancer treatment. With three major pharmaceutical companies having phase 3 readouts, 2013 could prove to be the defining year.

UBS thinks the two best positioned companies are Neutral-rated GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) and Buy-rated Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN). They think pivotal data will be forthcoming from GlaxoSmithKline in the form of results from the MAGE-A3 antigen data, which will be used for the treatment of skin and lung cancer. GlaxoSmithKline’s immunotherapeutics team is betting it has found a mixture of proteins that can boost the body’s natural ability to battle several kinds of cancers, all of which express the MAGE-A3 antigen. This protein is expressed on certain tumor cells, but not normal cells. The therapy also contains a mix of chemicals, AS15, that together act as an “adjuvant” to enhance the body’s immune response to the selected antigen. Results are expected in mid 2013.

They also expect Amgen’s therapeutic vaccine T-VEC, which is injected directly into visible cancer masses, to have additional positive results in 2013. T-Vec already has shown promise in treating regional melanoma. T-VEC (talimogene laherparepvec) is a treatment that leverages a patient’s own immune system. It has a dual mechanism of action, utilizing an attenuated herpes simplex virus (HSV) and a GM-CSF cytokine to stimulate the immune system. The virus is thought to potentiate local anti-tumor effects and the cytokine to potentiate systemic effects. GM-CSF stimulates T cells to kill melanoma cells at sites not infected with the HSV virus.

Cancer vaccines are viewed by the medical community as one of the final frontiers in the treatment of this deadly and fast-growing disease. With the acceptance of immunotherapies in the treatment of cancer and breakthroughs in vaccine research, 2013 could indeed prove to be the year for a true cancer vaccine for patient use.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Biotech, Drug companies, Healthcare Tagged: AMGN, DNDN, GSK, UBS

Can Dendreon’s Stock Really Double Again?

Jon C. Ogg — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:16:11 +0000

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is seeing shares surge higher on Friday on an analyst upgrade. The move higher is part because Dendreon has a long history of boom and bust with large share price changes following. Bernstein’s research team raised the rating to Outperform from Market Perform. What will really stand out is the price target being $10.00.

While shares are up 16% to $5.96, this stock closed at $5.10 yesterday and that was the basis for the price being called a double to $10.00 and also the basis for the research call. Dendreon did not make our list of the biotechs with the most upside in 2013 because of two major reasons: its market cap is now too small and its story is considered an implosion as far as the investment community is concerned. At under $6, the 52-week range is $3.69 to $17.04 and this was a much higher priced stock back when PROVENGE was getting its approvals for a last-line of defense against metastatic prostate cancer.

Another issue is that the consensus price target is down to $6.06 from Thomson Reuters. Dendreon has burned too many investors and burned too many analysts in the past for there to be any wild and crazy endorsements like we used to see where analysts would forecast a value of $25, $30, or even $40 per shares based upon PROVENGE taking over as a prostate cancer fighter, It has not and other competing treatments are available. PROVENGE is also extremely expensive even if it is reimbursed by Medicare.

The driver behind Bernstein’s upgrade was channel checks. The firm cited interviews with the heavier prescribers of PROVENGE, which showed wider prescriptions being headed its way and wider recruitment of other prescribers looking to make this a norm. What really stood out was that the report claims that this might be the beginning of the end of the company’s persistent woes after having been nothing short of a disaster story.

Dendreon’s gains are on about 5-times normal trading volume with about two hours of trading left in the day.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Biotech, Drug companies, Healthcare Tagged: DNDN