Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Dendreon (DNDN)

CNBC's coverage of Dendreon (DNDN), the developer of the Provenge prostate cancer drug that's up for FDA review, has been well informed and well balanced. I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage. One analyst on their coverage said today that Provenge, "has the greatest survivability for any 3rd line cancer drug......" CNBC's unofficial FDA panel vote tally is 6 Yes, 4 No and 7 Undecided. Following the release of the vote tally, DNDN shares rocketed further, presently up 15%.

The more fascinating story is in the options trading. Call options volume in the April and May contracts totals nearly 190,000 contracts today with the April 7-1/2, Apr 10 and April 12-1/2 volume out-trading open interest! I've traded options since 1988 and have not often seen this sort of thing happen.

DNDN will be halted tomorrow while the FDA panel review is conducted. Whatever the outcome, trading Friday will either be explosive to the upside (perhaps above $12/shr), or the stock will collapse below the $2 mark.

Disclosure: Long and hedged position in DNDN.

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