Spectrum Posts Encouraging Zevalin Sales: BioBuzz

IRVINE, Calif. (TheStreet) -- Spectrum Pharmaceuticals(SPPI Quote) offered early but encouraging evidence Thursday that its lymphoma drug Zevalin is on the comeback trail.

The company said Zevalin sales rose 80% year over year to $4.7 million in the third quarter. On a sequential basis, Zevalin sales were up 42% from the second quarter.

With just under $11 million in Zevalin sales so far this year, the drug has almost matched its performance for all of 2008. U.S. regulators granted Zevalin an expanded label in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on Sept. 3, which only recently allowed Spectrum to essentially re-launch the drug in an effort to reinvigorate sales.

Spectrum's third-quarter report wasn't all positive. Sales of the company's other cancer drug Fusilev totaled just $300,000 in the quarter, down sharply from the $2.7 million in second quarter sales.

Last month, FDA rejected Spectrum's application to expand Fusilev's label to include treatment for colon cancer patients. The company has scheduled a meeting with FDA for January to determine what will be required to reverse the agency's decision.

Spectrum reported a net loss for the quarter of 20 cents a share on total revenue of $7.1 million, in line with analysts' consensus.

Dendreon's Big Day is April 30, 2010

Dendreon's(DNDN Quote) third-quarter report and conference call were largely uneventful. Provenge was re-filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Oct. 30, so if all goes as planned, the FDA approval decision date for the prostate cancer immunotherapy, i.e. "vaccine," will be April 30, 2010.

I'll note that the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology -- the Super Bowl of cancer drug research and a great launching spot for Provenge -- takes place June 4-8, 2010.