in4thelonghaul

Cramer's Bad Call On Dendreon: Real World vs. Television

Derek...

While I wholeheartedly agree that basing one's stock picks upon Cramer's opinion is indeed a fool's game (if anyone wishes to sing his praises as a stock picker, I suggest you visit a site which tracks the performance of his picks), I must take strong exception to a particular statement you made in your article. You indicated sympathy with Cramer as regards his negative call on DNDN, seemingly absolving him with the statement:..."picking against Dendreon made as much sense as coming out for them;..."

Not to offend, but your statement indicates your utter ignorance of the Dendreon case before the advisory panel, you apparently were as clueless as Cramer pretended to be....(you would have to know Cramer's history with DNDN to understand that he has an agenda when it comes to this call).

Explain to us if you will, what about a 3-fold increase in Overall Survival with virtually no side effects (transient fever and chills) you find hard to grasp. Were you even aware that the only FDA approved 'competition' to Dendreon's Provenge is Taxotere...a chemo agent with such limited efficacy, and side effects so severe and debillitating that approx. half of the potential recipients with end stage Prostate Cancer simply refuse to take it? It didn't take a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist to figure out, with high probability, which way the panel was going to vote. The cincher was when it was revealed that Provenge was to be reviewed by a division of CBER. The FDA had, prior to the Advisory Panel, conducted a joint symposium with NCI where they made their views regarding the emerging field of "active immunotherapeutic cancer vaccines" very clear. All it took was some time and effort to dig a bit, something you obviously failed to do. Next time do your homework instead of listening to the WallStreet/Hedge fund shills and you will not be left commiserating with the likes of Cramer.

Hint: Upcoming decision (anytime up to May 15th) from the FDA will be a resounding full approval, and the Provenge treatment, along with booster infusions and possibly some other following adjuvant therapy will go a long way towards making late stage Prostate Cancer a manageable disease instead of an eventual death sentence.

By the way, Dendreon's "cassette" technology is likely applicable to other cancers as well, they are by no means a "one trick pony", and with a ROW partner announcement to follow FDA approval, the sh/pr appreciation has only begun.