Dendreon plans $50M expansion of New Jersey plant

Dendreon expects to spend up to $50 million to expand its therapeutic biotechnology processing facility in Morris Plains, New Jersey, the company said Monday in a regulatory filing.

The Seattle biotech, which is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval for its prostate-cancer immunotherapy, Provenge, has hired The Henderson Corp. to manage construction of a two-phase expansion of its Morris Plains facility. The plant is where a patient's immune cells would be processed to increase their ability to fight prostate cancer, before being re-infused into the patient.

Additional quality control laboratories, data center, training areas, infrastructure and offices are scheduled to by done by mid-December. The final phase, with additional manufacturing clean-room work stations, production support areas, warehouse, infrastructure and offices, is to be substantially complete by April 23 of next year.

Dendreon finished the initial build-out of its 158,000-square-foot facility in July 2006, before its FDA application was tabled to await additional clinical results.

Last month Dendreon raised net proceeds of $221 million by selling nearly 12 million shares at $19.20 apiece.