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tdp2664 InvestorPlace The encouraging results Medivation ( NASDAQ : MDVN ) reported for its late-stage prostate cancer treatment was great news for company investors, as shares of the San Francisco-based biotechnology shot up nearly 140% Thursday. However, the pronouncement only further soured the already grim mood at rival Dendreon ( NASDAQ : DNDN ), which markets the once high-flying prostate medication Provenge. Executives at the Seattle-based company must be asking themselves "What's next?" On Wednesday, they saw the company's stock pummeled in after-hours trading after forecasting November sales for Provenge would be lower than October's. Their shares continued to be battered Thursday following the Medivation announcement, hitting a 52-week low closing of $6.55. The Medivation compound, known as MDV3100, might even have some advantages over the recently approved Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) prostate cancer drug, Zytiga. In the study, patients on MDV3100 enjoyed a survival rate similar to the 3.9 months that Zytiga needed to gain FDA approval. However, unlike J&J’s drug, the Medivation treatment doesn’t require the patient to also take prednisone — a steroid hormone linked to high blood pressure, weight gain, pain, depression and weakness. “Prednisone degrades the quality of life, which is very important to this patient population,” Wedbush Securities analyst David Nierengarten said in a Reuters article . Medivation, which is developing MDV3100 with Japanese partner Astellas Pharma Inc., plans to sit down with the FDA in a pre-New Drug Application meeting early next year. When approved, most likely in early 2013, the Medivation pill could become the favored treatment in a new generation of prostate cancer medicines, surpassing Zytiga, also taken orally, and Provenge, which is infused. “When (MDV3100) is on the market it will displace Zytiga,”
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