Prostate Cancer Patients Face Rationing of Provenge

Prostate cancer patients seeking Dendreon Corp.’s new tumor-fighting vaccine, Provenge, face delays of a year or more as hospital waiting lists dwarf the company’s capacity to produce medicine.

Dendreon can only make enough Provenge to treat about 2 percent of eligible patients until manufacturing increases in mid-2011, said Chief Operating Officer Hans Bishop. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Duke University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center are among hospitals scrambling to decide who should get the drug. Duke is considering principles used for high-demand organ transplants.