Northern, WI 2/27/12 (StreetBeat) -- Shares of Dendreon Corp. (Nasdaq: DNDN) tumbled Monday after the company forecast disappointing first-quarter sales of its prostate cancer therapy Provenge.Dendreon reported its fourth-quarter results Monday, saying it earned $38.1 million, or 26 cents per share, in the December quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2010 it lost $91.8 million, or 64 cents per share. Revenue climbed to $202.1 million from $25 million as sales of Provenge totaled $77 million. The company also got $125 million after selling its royalty interest in Merck & Co.'s hepatitis C drug Victrelis to CPP Investment Board, which manages funds for the Canada Pension Plan.
Analysts expected Dendreon to report a loss of 36 cents per share and $76 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
The company reported $64.3 million in Provenge sales during the third quarter. The drug was approved in April 2010, and sales have been growing more slowly than Dendreon and Wall Street initially expected.
Dendreon President and CEO John Johnson said sales in the fourth quarter were better than expected, but he said the strength came from some patients starting treatment in December instead of January, which will hurt the company's first-quarter results.
"As we look at January, given the end of the year holiday office closures, the physicians saw fewer patients," he said during a conference call with analysts and investors. "Based on the schedules thus far, we expect our first quarter will have minor growth in a low single-digits."
Analysts expect Dendreon to report $83.6 million in revenue in the first quarter, which represents growth of around 9 percent from the fourth quarter.
Shares of Dendreon sank $2.85, or 19 percent, to $12.01 in midday trading.
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