Dendreon Corp., a Seattle-based biotechnology company that’s getting ready to begin manufacturing at a plant in Seal Beach, has some short-term challenges but “still plenty of upside potential,” according to an article on investor website Seeking Alpha.
Dendreon, which makes the Provenge drug for prostate cancer, is set to report fourth-quarter and 2010 financial results on March 1.
Getting production in line with demand likely will be a challenge to a company goal of building on the third quarter’s $20 million in sales of Provenge, according to an anonymous Seeking Alpha blogger who writes under the initials VFC.
“Keep an eye on the earnings report, but the real news may come later this year when production picks up and the product demand is met,” the blogger wrote.
VFC does not own shares in Dendreon.
Another ongoing issue for Dendreon and Provenge is getting reimbursement from the federal healthcare programs Medicare and Medicaid. That should be finalized next month when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issue a final decision on coverage, according to the blogger.
Back in November, an advisory panel gave a positive review of federal coverage of Provenge, “so it may be safe to assume that the final decision will be just a formality, confirming what is already a widely accepted decision,” the blogger wrote.
Prior to Provenge’s Food and Drug Administration approval in early 2010, some analysts who followed Dendreon said reimbursement was a concern because doctors wouldn’t willingly assume Provenge’s upfront costs, as well as possible insurer hesitation.
Provenge is expected to cost $93,000 per treatment.
Even with Provenge’s expense, it is considered a “blockbuster” drug and eventually could reach $1 billion in sales.
Dendreon is developing other drugs, including Neuvenge for bladder cancer.
The company’s Orange County plant is at the Pacific Gateway Business Center near the Garden Grove (22) Freeway.
The drug maker has said that its Seal Beach plant is set to be licensed by midyear and it expects to start producing Provenge there soon after.
Plans call for several hundred local jobs, 36 workstations and the capability to make $375 million to $750 million worth of Provenge a year, said Greg Schiffman, the drug maker’s chief financial officer, in an interview last year.
Provenge is designed for men whose prostate cancer has spread and is resistant to traditional forms of treatment. The drug trains the body’s immune system to fight prostate cancer and is called a vaccine, although it treats cancer rather than prevents it.
ReVision Leader
John Kilcoyne is the new chief executive and president of ReVision Optics Inc., a Lake Forest eye device maker.
He succeeds J. Randy Alexander, who assumes the chairman’s role.
ReVision makes the Presbylens corneal inlay lens that is implanted into the eye to correct presbyopia, a condition that occurs in nearly every adult over 40 years of age and causes the eye to lose its ability to focus close up.
Presbylens “is a very tiny device that adds the power you need to read again,” Alexander said in an interview last year.
The device has European regulatory approval and will be sold under the name Vue+ overseas. ReVision is pursuing FDA approval for Presbylens.
Before coming to ReVision, Kilcoyne was chief executive of Micrus Endovascular Corp., a San Jose medical device maker that was sold to Johnson & Johnson in September.
His career also includes positions at Framingham, Mass.-based Solace Therapeutics and Endonetics Inc., which was bought by Minnesota’s Medtronic Inc. in 2001.
ReVision has raised over $70 million in venture capital funding.
Investors include Domain Associates, which has offices in San Diego and New Jersey, and Canaan Partners of Menlo Park and Westport, Conn.
Former SenoRx Chief Lands
John Buhler, a former chief executive of SenoRx Inc., which was based in Irvine, is the new president and chief operating officer of Natus Medical Inc., a Bay Area device maker.
Buhler became interim chief executive of SenoRx, which makes breast biopsy devices, in early 2010 and was elevated to the permanent chief executive position after Lloyd Malchow’s death in March.
C.R. Bard Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J. acquired SenoRx for $213 million last May.
Natus, based in San Carlos, makes healthcare products used for screening, detection, treatment, monitoring and tracking common ailments in newborn babies.
In 2009, Natus bought medical device maker Alpine Biomedical Corp. of Fountain Valley for $43 million.
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine eye drug maker Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. said that it would stop shipping its twice-daily Xibrom drug for treating pain after cataract surgery at the end of February. Ista said it made the decision because of rapid doctor adoption of its newer, once-daily Bromday solution … Quality Systems Inc., an Irvine healthcare software maker, said clients of its NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc. subsidiary have secured nearly $2 million in payments from the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, a program by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
