Dendreon

What Dendreon does

Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Seal Beach, California, specializing in autologous cellular immunotherapy. Founded in 1992 as Activated Cell Therapy at Stanford School of Medicine and renamed Dendreon in 1997, the company pioneered the first FDA-approved cellular immunotherapy for cancer — PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T) — approved in 2010 for the treatment of metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The therapy is manufactured from each patient's own immune cells, collected via leukapheresis, processed using the company's proprietary Antigen Delivery Cassette™ platform, and returned to the patient through three intravenous infusions approximately two weeks apart. Nearly 40,000 men have been prescribed PROVENGE since its 2010 approval.

The company operates three FDA-approved facilities in the United States — a corporate and commercial headquarters with manufacturing in Seal Beach, California (180,000+ sq ft, FDA-approved 2011), an immunotherapy manufacturing facility in Union City, Georgia (170,000+ sq ft), and a medical and operations facility in Seattle, Washington. Dendreon runs a proprietary patient logistics network capable of generating one million drive/flight routes within an hour and delivering time-critical autologous therapies within an 18-hour window anywhere in the U.S.

Dendreon operates two interconnected revenue streams: (1) PROVENGE product sales, administered through oncologists and urologists at hospitals, cancer treatment centers, and urology/oncology practices, with costs covered by Medicare and commercial insurance; and (2) contract manufacturing services for cellular therapy developers, offering process and analytical development, cGMP manufacturing, clinical and regulatory support, and proprietary logistics delivery. The company was taken public on NASDAQ in 2000, acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2015 for $495 million, and subsequently acquired by Sanpower Group in 2017 for $819.9 million, after which it resumed operations as a standalone private company.

Name

Dendreon

Legal name

Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC

Website

https://dendreon.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T), the first FDA-approved autologous cellular immunotherapy for advanced prostate cancer, and offers contract manufacturing services to other cellular therapy developers across its three U.S. cGMP facilities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cellular Immunotherapy / Biopharmaceuticals

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing (325412), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834), Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)

akta.pro primary industry

Cell Therapy Developers (Autologous) (HLAAABAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Nephrology & Urology Pharmaceuticals (HLAIAAAM), GMP Scale-Up, Tech Transfer & Process Validation (PPQ) (HLAGAHAL), Cell & Gene Therapy Chain-of-Identity/Chain-of-Custody Logistics (HLAGAMAE)

Keywords

• Cellular immunotherapy
• Prostate cancer treatment
• Autologous cell therapy
• Contract manufacturing services
• Biopharmaceutical manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. PROVENGE Product Sales: Revenue generated from the sale of PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T), an FDA-approved cellular immunotherapy for advanced prostate cancer. Treatment involves three intravenous infusions approximately two weeks apart, with each infusion taking about 60 minutes.
2. Contract Manufacturing Services: Dendreon provides end-to-end manufacturing services for cellular therapy companies, including process and analytical development, manufacturing, clinical and regulatory support for partners developing novel cell therapies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Dendreon manufactures and commercializes PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T), the first FDA-approved autologous cellular immunotherapy for men with advanced prostate cancer (mCRPC). The company also provides end-to-end contract manufacturing, process/analytical development, regulatory support, and time-critical logistics services to third-party cellular therapy developers from preclinical through commercialization.

Product overview

Dendreon is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company offering two interconnected offerings: PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T), the company's flagship FDA-approved cellular immunotherapy for advanced prostate cancer, and a contract manufacturing services business that leverages Dendreon's experience in developing, manufacturing, and commercializing PROVENGE to help other cell therapy developers bring their products from clinic to market. The manufacturing services include process development, cGMP production, quality control, and proprietary national patient logistics for time-critical delivery of autologous cell therapies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Median overall survival extended by 4.1 months in IMPACT Phase 3 trial
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Bristol Myers Squibb: BMS owns approved CAR-T cell therapies (Breyanzi, Abecma) and operates in the broader cellular immunotherapy space. As a large incumbent, BMS competes with Dendreon for oncologist mindshare and patient access, while also being a potential partner.
• Novartis: Novartis owns Kymriah, the first FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapy. As a broad incumbent pharmaceutical company with a commercial cellular immunotherapy franchise, Novartis competes with Dendreon in the cell therapy category and shares similar patient logistics requirements.

Direct peers

• Adaptimmune Therapeutics: Adaptimmune is a cell therapy company developing engineered T-cell therapies for solid tumors. It is comparable to Dendreon as a clinical-to-commercial stage cell therapy developer focused on oncology, with similar manufacturing and patient-delivery complexity.
• Iovance Biotherapeutics: Iovance is an autologous cell therapy developer with FDA-approved TIL therapies (e.g., Amtagvi for melanoma). It is directly comparable to Dendreon as a U.S.-based autologous cell therapy company with commercial manufacturing and similar patient logistics complexity.
• Lonza Group: Lonza operates one of the largest cell and gene therapy CDMO businesses globally, providing autologous manufacturing services. It is a direct peer to Dendreon's contract manufacturing services business, addressing the same developer customer base.
• Catalent: Catalent is a major cell therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with autologous and allogeneic capabilities. It is directly comparable to Dendreon's contract manufacturing services business for cell therapy developers.
• Bavarian Nordic: Bavarian Nordic developed PROSTVAC, a direct competitor to PROVENGE in the prostate cancer vaccine space. Both companies target prostate cancer with immunotherapeutic approaches, making Bavarian Nordic a directly comparable therapeutic-area peer.
• Legend Biotech: Legend Biotech co-developed and commercializes CARVYKTI, an autologous CAR-T cell therapy for multiple myeloma. It is a direct peer in autologous cell therapy development, manufacturing, and commercialization with complex patient-specific logistics similar to Dendreon's PROVENGE.

Emerging players

• Allogene Therapeutics: Allogene is developing allogeneic (off-the-shelf) CAR-T cell therapies that could displace autologous approaches like PROVENGE. It is an emerging player in the broader cell therapy space with overlapping oncology focus and patient-access ambitions.
• Fate Therapeutics: Fate Therapeutics is developing off-the-shelf iPSC-derived cell therapies for cancer. It represents an emerging alternative modality that competes conceptually with autologous approaches like Dendreon's PROVENGE on scalability and cost.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

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• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/11299

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dendreon