Dendreon

Dendreon is a company that's really been through it, as have their investors. Many will remember the upheaval back in 2007, when the company showed what they felt were impressive results for their autologous prostate cancer immunotherapy Provenge, got a favorable reception from the FDA's advisory panel, but were then hit with an "approvable" letter asking for more data. (Here are three posts on that: before, during, and after).

Dendreon’s long-awaited big news is coming tomorrow morning. The Seattle biotech company (NASDAQ: DNDN) said it will hold a conference call before stock trading opens tomorrow morning to discuss the final results of a clinical trial that will show whether its immune-stimulating drug for prostate cancer, Provenge, can help men live longer.

The company’s conference call will start at 9 am Eastern time/6 am Pacific, about a half-hour before trading opens. The company didn’t tip its hand one way or another in its statement today, but it’s important enough that trading was halted in the stock prior to the announcement. Plenty of people are already betting big that Dendreon is going to have positive results from this trial, called Impact, of 500 with terminal prostate cancer. Shares climbed 16 percent today to close at $7.30, on about quadruple the average trading volume.

10th amendment

10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the US Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.” "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has joined with state lawmakers in supporting a resolution reaffirming states' rights under the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, reports said Tuesday. "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, D.C. trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas," Perry said in a speech supporting House Concurrent Resolution 50. "I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union," he said.

"I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion inton the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state," he continued. "That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm states' rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Texas proposal also calls for prohibiting or repealing all federal legislation imposed on the state that requires compliance under penalty of civil or criminal action.

GM Recalls

GM recalls of cars due to fire risk. General Motors' 1.5 million units of recall due to a engine risk is a serious matter and cannot go unnoticed. "General Motors Corp is recalling nearly 1.5 million Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Pontiac mid-sized cars due to a potential leak of engine oil that could cause an engine fire.

The recall applies to the 1997-2003 Buick Regal; 1998-2003 Chevrolet Lumina, Monte Carlo and Impala; 1998-99 Oldsmobile Intrigue; and 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix, GM said in a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A total of 1,497,516 vehicles, all equipped with a 3.8 liter engine, are involved in the recall." In fact yesterday a top Wall Street analyst warned today that a bankruptcy filing by General Motors Corp. seems more likely in part because the government may have to take some losses on its own loans to the automaker.

What is interesting is that at this moment on Tuesday morning there is no information about the GM recall in its investor's relation or News section of the General Motors' website. We do know that GM and the U.S. automakers were hurting. My question is that how much will this GM recall further hurt the automaker. I found an interesting comment about the GM Recall by the blogger of INTJ who writes the following: "If this was a truly serious risk... Fires would have been reported already, which makes me wonder about the validity of this claim.