Whoohoo!  The FDA has approved Provenge which was developed by the company my husband now works for. I know some of you are thinking huh? Your husband is working? We thought he was retired. Well his retirement was very short lived and yes he now has a different full-time job right here in Seattle. Good thing the FDA approved this treatment today or else Dear would have been out on the street with no job!! So the company is all a buzz. Lots of laughter and celebration going on in Downtown Seattle over this major announcement. Congratulations to Dendreon and 10 years of hanging in there over the development of Provenge and the approval process!! Congratulations to all the men with Advanced Prostate Cancer that can finally be treated with Provenge…

FDA Approves a Cellular Immunotherapy for Men with Advanced Prostate Cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Provenge (sipuleucel-T), a new therapy for certain men with advanced prostate cancer that uses their own immune system to fight the disease.

Provenge is indicated for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and is resistant to standard hormone treatment.

Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer among men in the United States, behind skin cancer, and usually occurs in older men. In 2009, an estimated 192,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed and about 27,000 men died from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“The availability of Provenge provides a new treatment option for men with advanced prostate cancer, who currently have limited effective therapies available,” said Karen Midthun, M.D., acting director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.