Dendreon Corporation Acquires Rights to Telomerase Antigen From Geron Corporation for Use in Therapeutic Vaccines.

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SEATTLE--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 23, 2001

Pervasive cancer target complements existing product pipeline

Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN) today announced it has licensed rights from Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) to use human telomerase (hTERT) as an antigen in Dendreon's therapeutic cancer vaccines.

Associated with the "immortality" of cancer cells, the telomerase enzyme is crucial to the uncontrollable division of malignant cells. Telomerase is found in more than 80 percent of tumor samples and is usually absent from healthy tissue. It is thus an attractive target for cancer immunotherapy.

"Because of its direct association with a variety of cancers, telomerase will be a powerful addition to our arsenal of multi-cancer vaccines currently in development," said David Urdal, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Dendreon. "Clinically, we have repeatedly been able to stimulate immunity to our vaccines, and we look forward to the incorporation of telomerase into our proprietary approach."

Dendreon currently has three therapeutic cancer vaccines in clinical trials, including Provenge(TM) for the treatment of prostate cancer. The company recently completed patient enrollment in the first of two Phase III trials of Provenge for men with advanced prostate cancer. Dendreon also has four multi-cancer vaccine candidates in preclinical development, recently announcing the addition to its pipeline of two new target antigens, CEA and MN.

Dendreon Corporation (www.dendreon.com) is dedicated to the discovery and development of novel products for the treatment of cancer through its innovative manipulation of the immune system. Dendreon is a leader in the development of therapeutic, dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines. The Company's proprietary approach includes antigen discovery, antigen engineering and dendritic cell technologies that are combined to develop products that stimulate cell-mediated immunity - the body's key defense against cancer.

Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, particularly those 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 a difference include risks related to Dendreon's limited operating history, risks associated with completing Dendreon's clinical trials, the risk that the safety and/or efficacy results of a clinical trial will not support an application for a biologics license, the risk that the FDA will not approve a product for which a biologics license has been applied, the uncertainty of Dendreon's future access to capital, the failure by Dendreon to secure and maintain relationships with collaborators, dependence on the efforts of third parties, and 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 (SEC), which are available at www.sec.gov.