SEATTLE, March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dendreon Corporation has named Christopher Lockett senior director of government affairs. He will be responsible for managing Dendreon's relationships with local, state and federal government officials focusing initially on activities related to PROVENGE(R) (sipuleucel-T), Dendreon's investigational active cellular immunotherapy for the potential treatment of advanced prostate cancer.
Lockett joins Dendreon from TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc. where he most recently served as director of government affairs. He spent the majority of his 17-year career at TAP providing strategic counsel to the company on the impact of state and federal programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, as well as legislative issues on TAP's two leading products, Lupron Depot(R) (leuprolide acetate for depot suspension) for prostate cancer and Prevacid(R) (lansoprazole) for acid-related diseases.
He will report to James Caggiano, Dendreon's vice president of sales and marketing, and will primarily be responsible for Dendreon's interactions with the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding potential future coverage of PROVENGE, and provide counsel and direction on coding and reimbursement for the product.
"Chris is an expert in health care policy issues management, particularly with respect to prostate cancer medicines, and will play an important role in ensuring that our commercialization strategy is aligned with current and evolving policies that could affect PROVENGE," said Caggiano. "He joins our team at an important time as we approach key regulatory milestones and advance towards PROVENGE commercialization."
Prior to joining TAP in 1990, Lockett, an Army Ranger, served in the U.S. Army as a Special Operations/Intelligence Officer with the 3rd Ranger Battalion.
He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma and has a Master's in History from the University of New Brunswick, Canada.
About Dendreon
Dendreon Corporation is a biotechnology company whose mission is to target cancer and transform lives through the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics that harness the immune system to fight cancer. The Company uses its experience in antigen identification, antigen engineering and antigen-presenting cell processing to produce active immunotherapy product candidates to potentially stimulate a cell-mediated immune response. PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T) is Dendreon's lead active cellular immunotherapy in Phase 3 development for prostate cancer. The Company also discovered Trp-p8, a cold receptor and transmembrane ion channel in pre-clinical development, which is over-expressed in breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers. For more information about the Company and its programs, visit www.dendreon.com.
Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties surrounding the efficacy of PROVENGE to treat men suffering from prostate cancer, risks and uncertainties surrounding the presentation of data to the FDA and approval of product applications by the FDA and risks and uncertainties inherent in the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics. Factors that may cause such differences include risks related to our limited operating history, risks associated with completing our clinical trials, the risk that the safety and/or efficacy results of a clinical trial for PROVENGE will not support an application for a biologics license, the risk that the FDA may interpret data differently than we do or require more data or a more rigorous analysis of data than expected, the risk that the FDA will not approve a product for which a biologics license has been applied, the risk that the results of a clinical trial for PROVENGE or other product may not be indicative of results obtained in a later clinical trial, risks that we may lack the financial resources and access to capital to fund required clinical trials or commercialization of PROVENGE, our dependence on the efforts of third parties, including collaborators, and our dependence on intellectual property. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect Dendreon's business, financial condition and results of operations are contained in Dendreon's public disclosure filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov.
Dendreon CorporationCONTACT: Monique M. Greer, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications ofDendreon Corporation, +1-206-829-1500
Web site: http://www.dendreon.com/
