The European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for Dendreon Corporation's Provenge (autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells activated with PAP -GM-CSF or sipuleucel -T) dispersion 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, MD, 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, placebo -controlled, multi -centre 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."

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.