Dendreon's 1st-qtr 2007 loss widens to $30.9M

US biotechnology firm Dendreon says that its revenue for the first quarter of 2007 rose to $80,000 from $25,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, while its net loss widened to $30.9 million, or $0.38 per share, from $24.4 million, or $0.34 per share, on higher R&D costs for its investigational cancer vaccine Provenge (sipuleucel-T).

Dendreon's total operating expenses for the quarter were $32.0 millionm up 25% on the same period last year, as it included $6.3 million to purchase commercial-scale quantities of the antigen used in connection with Provenge.

Key highlights during the quarter included the US Food and Drug Administration's review of the firm's Biologics License Application for Provenge in patients with asymptomatic, metastatic, androgen-independent prostate cancer, leading to a unanimous opinion that the submitted data established the agent's safety and a majority opinion that it demonstrated efficacy in the intended population.