Provenge

[Sun1115]

My doctor wants me to try Provenge for my gradual PSA increase. Right now at 6.4 . But in a upward trend . Has anybody had success with Provenge treatments. And will Medicare pay for it ?

Thank you all for your feedback.

[Tall_Allen]

Define "success." We know it works because men who used it lived longer than men who didn't. It doesn't lower PSA or shrink tumors - you just live longer. IMO it is best combined with a therapy that increases antigen presentation (SBRT or chemo).

[Hidden]

Medicare payed 90% of mine and my Blue Cross payed the rest. In my unprofessional opinion, it's hard to tell if Provenge helped me. I have seen a lot of men state that they believed Provenge helped other drugs like Zytiga be effective longer. Personally I haven't a clue.

[Magnus1964]

The Patient Access Network will pay for Provenge. I had success with Provenge for soft tissue mets.

[Hidden]

Medicare plus supplement paid for my husband. Price is often quoted as $100K-$200K but the actual payout to Medicare was only $30,000ish which is still ridiculous IMO. Did it work? Most likely not, but who knows? His blood counts changed the month after his infusions so something happened, but it didn’t stop cancer progression. Provenge seems to cycle in and out of popularity with oncologists based on how the data is spun. Dendreon went bankrupt in 2014 and has since changed ownership two more times. The current owner (Sanpower Group since 2017) seems to have a really good marketing team because Provenge is being promoted and used even though there are no end results that can quantify whether it works or not.

[Olivia007 in reply to Hidden]

Wow thanks for all the research I appreciate it!

[abmicro]

I would combine with another treatment for better results. I did provenge followed immediately by spot radiation of the involved bone detected on an MRI and got a zero psa for 2 years. The PSA was undetectable even with a super sensitive psa test.

[Schwah]

Did you do any hormone or other treatment during those two years? What’s happened since? I ask because I started Provenge this week along with spot radiation to L-5. Planning on going back on ADT too soon. Schwah

[Ramp7]

Keep us posted.

[leo2634]

I had Provenge two years ago. Its like the other Brothers have stated its hard to say what effects it will have on you other than prolonging life. I'm my case my PSA has been holding at 0.1 for three years now. My only other treatment has been Zytiga, Eligard, Provenge. My Doctor said it is best responsive if administrator when PSA is low. Medicare and my supplement paid it all. Good luck and make sure you use the bathroom before the first part of the Provenge treatments you have to sit still for almost three hours. I chose not to get the port because it is left in you for the whole process which is almost nine weeks long Leo

[MateoBeach]

Go get it if you can. It extends survival about a year on average in the “real world”. Especially good for those who start with a lower PSA. <5.7 which yours is close to so should be beneficial for you. I had it ten years ago and am happy I did.

[MateoBeach]

Here is the linkurotoday.com/recent-abstrac...

[Hidden in reply to MateoBeach]

The numbers look great, no doubt, and I hope it makes a worthwhile difference in longevity. But if you dive into the weeds, you find news reported from sources with conflicts of interest. Of all the treatments out there, Provenge seems to have the most medical professional and general public skeptics. From this source, acsjournals.onlinelibrary.w...

(published at the same time of your link), note all the Denedron references:

Funding Support

PROCEED was funded by Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures:

Celestia S. Higano has served in an advisory role for Aptevo, Asana, Astellas, Bayer, Blue Earth Diagnostics, Churchill Pharma, Clovis Oncology, Dendreon, Endocyte, Ferring, Medivation, Orion Corporation, and Pfizer; she has also participated in sponsored research for Aptevo, Bayer, Aragon Pharma, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Dendreon, Genentech, Hoffman‐LaRoche, Medivation, Sanofi, and Pfizer, and her spouse was in a leadership role for CTI Biopharma. Andrew J. Armstrong has received grants and personal fees from Dendreon, Pfizer/Astellas, Janssen, Bayer, and Sanofi‐Aventis during this study as well as grants from Novartis, Gilead, Bristol‐Myers Squibb, and Genentech/Roche outside the submitted work. A. Oliver Sartor has served as a consultant for and received personal fees from Advanced Accelerator Applications, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bavarian‐Nordic, Bayer, Bellicum, Blue Earth Diagnostics, Celgene, Constellation, Dendreon, EMD Serono, Endocyte, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol‐Myers Squibb, Myovant, Pfizer, Progenics, Sanofi, Teva, and Hinova during this study; he has also received grants from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Constellation, Dendreon, Endocyte, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol‐Myers Squibb, Progenics, Sanofi, Innocrin, Invitae, Merck, Roche, and Sotio. Philip W. Kantoff has received personal fees from Astellas, Bayer, Bellicum, BIND Biosciences, Bavarian Nordic Immunotherapies, DRGT, Genentech/Roche, Ipsen Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Metamark, Merck, Millennium/Prometrika, MTG, Omnitura, OncoCell MDx, OncoGenex, Progenity, Sanofi, Tarveda Pharmaceuticals, Thermo Fisher, GE Healthcare, Context Therapeutics, New England Research Institutes, SEER Biosciences, and Placon; he also has investment interests in DRGT, Tarveda Pharmaceuticals, Context Therapeutics, SEER Biosciences, and Placon. Christopher M. Pieczonka has received personal fees as a consultant for Dendreon, Bayer, Janssen, and Pfizer and as an investigator for Dendreon, Bayer, Janssen, Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, Taiho, Innocrin, and Myovant outside the submitted work. David F. Penson has received personal fees from Dendreon and Janssen as well as a grant from the Vanderbilt University Research Center. Neal D. Shore has served as a consultant for and received personal fees from Ferring, Bayer, Amgen, Janssen, Dendreon, Tolmar, Astellas, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Genentech/Roche, Myovant Sciences, Merck, Bristol Meyers Squibb, and Nymox outside the submitted work. Raoul S. Concepcion has served in an advisory role for Dendreon and received personal fees outside the submitted work. David I. Quinn has been involved in payments to the University of Southern California for trial conduct with Dendreon; he has also acted as an advisor for and received personal fees from Dendreon, Bayer, Janssen, Pfizer, Astellas, Genzyme, Clovis, and AstraZeneca. Vahan Kassabian has served as a consultant or speaker for Dendreon, Amgen, Astellas, Pfizer, Janssen, Bayer, UroGPO, Tolmar, and Genomic Health outside the submitted work and is a shareholder of UroGPO. Matt Harmon reports stock ownership in Amgen. Robert C. Tyler has been an employee of Janssen, Dendreon, Medivation, Pfizer, and Innocrin. Nancy N. Chang was a full‐time employee of Dendreon at the time of the analyses and drafting of this manuscript. Hong Tang was a full‐time employee of Dendreon at the time of the analyses and drafting of the manuscript; is a nonexecutive director of OnQuality Pharmaceuticals; and owns stock in BeiGene, Nektar, Sangamo Therapeutics, Tesaro, Verastem, Editas Medicine, and CVS Health Corporation. Matthew R. Cooperberg has received personal fees from Dendreon in relation to a PROCEED trial steering committee and has served in an advisory or consultancy role for Bayer, MDx Health, and Myriad Genetics; he has also participated in a registry steering committee for Astellas. The other authors made no disclosures.

[Danielgreer]

I initially got a drop in PSA from Provenge but it didn’t last. I moved on to Xofigo and it’s working very well and my understanding is the Provenge works well with Xofigo so that may be a reason for my great response to Xofigo. I think there is a study that shows the synergy between the two. Hope you have success!