Dendreon Appoints Varun Nanda Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Operations

SEATTLE, April 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN) today announced that Varun Nanda has joined the company as senior vice president of global commercial operations, effective April 19, 2010. Mr. Nanda most recently served as the senior vice president and global head of oncology at Roche/Genentech, where he led the global product strategy for all oncology molecules, from pre-clinical research through commercialization.

Mr. Nanda will play a critical role in leading the commercial team and will be responsible for several functions, including sales and marketing.  

"With more than twenty years of commercial experience, Varun will help guide our team as we move closer to realizing our mission of transforming the lives of cancer patients," said Hans Bishop, executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Varun's depth of experience launching Avastin® and leading several breakthrough global oncology products will be highly relevant to our transformation from a purely R&D organization into a world-class commercial organization."

While most recently at Genentech, Mr. Nanda oversaw global marketing and lifecycle development for products in Roche/Genentech's oncology franchise. Prior to assuming that role, Mr. Nanda served as vice president of Avastin sales and marketing, leading an organization of nearly 400 people and achieving U.S. sales of more than $3 billion within five years of launch. Mr. Nanda also held the roles of vice president and senior director for oncology sales and marketing at Genentech. Prior to joining Genentech, Mr. Nanda was director of brand management and product manager of endocrinology at Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Mr. Nanda received an M.B.A. from Eastern Illinois University, and a B.E. from Delhi College of Engineering.

About Dendreon

Dendreon Corporation is a biotechnology company whose mission is to target cancer and transform lives through the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics. The Company applies its expertise in antigen identification, engineering and cell processing to produce active cellular immunotherapy product candidates designed to stimulate an immune response. Dendreon is also developing an orally-available small molecule that targets TRPM8 that could be applicable to multiple types of cancer as well as benign prostatic hyperplasia. The Company has its headquarters in Seattle, Washington and is traded on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol DNDN. For more information about the Company and its programs, visit http://www.dendreon.com.

SOURCE Dendreon Corporation

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