Feuerstein's Biotech-Stock Mailbag

Happy Holidays to everyone. Thanks again for your emails, keep 'em coming. And thanks for making this part of my job so enjoyable.

One more thing before I get to your emails, don't forget to download the two biotech catalyst calendars I've put together. Get the 2008 FDA approval dates here, and the 2008 clinical trials to watch here.

Now, to your emails.

Whenever there's a new development in the Dendreon story, I hear from Joe T. He's a Dendreon supporter and a die-hard reader. So, soon after word spread Thursday that a few congressmen want to hold hearings on the FDA's decision last May to not approve Provenge, the following email hit my inbox.

"The corrupt FDA? Like I have always said - COI Scher and Hussain."

Joe is man of few words, but his meaning comes through clear for anyone following the Dendreon story. There is a fervent belief among Dendreon bulls that the advisory panel and the subsequent FDA deliberations over the fate of Provenge was rife with conflict of interest. More specifically, two advisory panel participants, Drs. Howard Scher and Maha Hussain, have been singled out with allegations that they were so financially conflicted that they purposely tried to scuttle Provenge.

Nonsense, is my reply.

Dendreon shares were up sharply Thursday because of the news about this potential Congressional inquiry into Provenge. (As I write this Friday morning, the stock is already retreating.) I'll be incredibly surprised -- shocked even -- if anything Congress does compels the FDA to reverse course and approve Provenge without new clinical data that further proves the prostate cancer vaccine's efficacy.