Dendreon's curve ball

During the first year Dendreon Corp.'s Provenge sipuleucel-T was on the market, the biggest concern on management's and investors' minds was how fast the biotech would be able to resolve manufacturing constraints for the autologous cell therapy. It's now apparent that this masked the bigger issue of the speed and rate of uptake among community urologists and oncologists. Thus, more than a year after launch, no one really knows how to estimate sales going forward.

Management last week told investors that uptake during 2Q slowed because physicians have been reluctant to shell out for the drug's $93,000 upfront cost. The company said the main reason isn't the price tag or concern about value for money, but rather physician fears they won't get paid, or that reimbursement would take too long...