Shares of the wildly popular and volatile Dendreon were treading water on unremarkable, relatively low volume for most of the day today. Then, all of a sudden, around 2:30 there was a big spike in the stock and volume surged. With less than 15 minutes left until the closing bell more than 11 million shares have been traded. The daily average recently is nearly 24 million. The shares are up more than 10%. There's still a large, but smaller (month over month) short interest in the stock.
Dendreon spokeswoman Monique Greer tells me via email, "We are not aware of anything in particular that may be driving the volume today."
I don't think there's any need to rehash the DNDN backstory. At last report, the company said the FDA won't make a move until it sees interim test results on the prostate cancer drug, Provenge, which aren't expected until the middle or second half of next year. And, the CEO said the company's still looking to partner the drug outside the U.S., but acknowledged it was a challenge finding another company that didn't want a piece of the American market.
This could be much ado about nothing. Just askin'.
Questions? Comments? Pharma@cnbc.com