For Dendreon, it kind of all comes down to today.

An FDA panel is reviewing today whether to recommend approval of the Seattle company’s prostate cancer vaccine. Although the FDA is required to follow the recommendations of its expert panels, it generally does, so this is a big deal.

Big enough that trading of Dendreon shares has been suspended today to help avoid any wild swings if the decision is announced during Wall Street hours. In recent days, though, hopeful investors had pushed the stock price upward. Of course, about 25 precent of the shareholders also have sold the company’s stock short, betting that the vaccine won’t win approval. Here’s CNN’s story on that: http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/28/news/companies/dendreon/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote.

For a good look at the science behind the vaccine and an answer to why the FDA’s even looking at a drug that failed its main clinical trial goals, take a look at this article from Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/28/prostate-cancer-treatment-biz-cx_mh_0328prostate.html?partner=yahootix.

As soon as I see word on the FDA panel’s decision, I’ll post it here.