What Is PROVENGE?
What you should know about prostate cancer treatment with PROVENGE
PROVENGE (pronounced PROH-venge) is a breakthrough treatment option for asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castrate resistant (hormone refractory) advanced prostate cancer.
PROVENGE is the only FDA-approved treatment that uses the body's own immune system to fight the disease.
This type of treatment is called autologous cellular immunotherapy.
PROVENGE is designed to use your immune system to fight prostate cancer. Your immune system is made up of immune cells found in your blood. These cells work as your body's natural defense against all types of illness, including prostate cancer.
Since PROVENGE is an immunotherapyTreatment that helps the immune system (the body’s natural defenses) fight disease., each dose is made just for you. Your personalized dose of PROVENGE consists of your own immune cells that have been trained to seek and attack prostate cancer cells. By stimulating the natural ability of immune cells already in your blood, PROVENGE may help you live longer.
Is PROVENGE a prostate cancer vaccine?
PROVENGE is the first prostate cancer therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that uses a patient's own immune cells. Because PROVENGE is designed to activate a patient's immune system, it may be considered a cancer treatment vaccine.
Cancer treatment vaccines are different from the preventative vaccines that you may be familiar with, such as polio or measles vaccines. Preventative vaccines help to prevent infection by stimulating the immune system to recognize and attack infectious agents, such as bacteria or viruses. Cancer treatment vaccines, on the other hand, are used to stimulate the body's own immune cells to attack cancer cells that already exist in the body.
To see how PROVENGE is different from other kinds of prostate cancer medicine, view a brief video about PROVENGE.
How PROVENGE is Different
PROVENGE is an immunotherapyTreatment that helps the immune system (the body’s natural defenses) fight disease. that works by stimulating the natural ability of immune cells already in your blood, which may help you live longer. PROVENGE is not a chemotherapyThe use of chemical agents in the treatment or control of disease (as in
cancer)., or hormone therapy.
Learn more about how PROVENGE is different from other therapies.
Next: How Does PROVENGE Work?
INDICATION
PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T) is approved by the FDA as an autologous cellular immunotherapy
for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castrate resistant (hormone refractory) prostate cancer.
PROVENGE is made from your own immune cells. Your cells will be collected at a cell collection center approximately 3 days before
each scheduled infusion of PROVENGE. There can be risks associated with the cell collection process, which you should discuss with
your doctor before deciding to begin treatment with PROVENGE.
PROVENGE can cause serious reactions. In controlled clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer, serious reactions
reported in patients in the PROVENGE group include reactions resulting from the infusion of the drug, which occurred within 1
day of infusion, and strokes. Severe infusion reactions included chills, fever, fatigue, weakness, breathing problems (shortness
of breath, decreased oxygen level, and wheezing), dizziness, headache, high blood pressure, muscle ache, nausea, and vomiting.
Tell your doctor right away if you have breathing problems, chest pains, racing heart or irregular heartbeats, dizziness, nausea,
or vomiting after getting PROVENGE because any of these may be signs of heart or lung problems.
The most common side effects reported with PROVENGE are chills, fatigue, fever, back pain, nausea, joint ache, and headache. These
are not all the possible side effects of PROVENGE treatment. For more information, talk with your doctor.
Tell your doctor about all your medical problems including heart problems, lung problems or a history of stroke.
Tell your doctor right away if you get a fever over 100°F, or redness at the cell collection or infusion sites,
because any of these may be signs of infection.
Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription drugs, vitamins, and dietary supplements.
Tell your doctor about any side effect that concerns you or does not go away.
For more information on PROVENGE, please see the Full Prescribing Information or
call Dendreon ON Call at 1-877-336-3736.