Dendreon Corporation, the company that plans to operate a biotech factory in Seal Beach, announced on Thursday, April 8 that Varun Nanda has joined the company as senior vice president of global commercial operations, effective April 19. 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.
Nanda will play a critical role in leading the commercial team and will be responsible for several functions, including sales and marketing.
According to the company’s Web site, Dendreon’s most advanced “product candidate” is sipuleucel-T, also known as Provenge, a treatment for men with advanced prostate cancer.
Company-sponsored studies indicate the treatment might add three to four months to a patient’s life expectancy with minimal side effects.
If approved, Provenge would be the first cancer treatment that uses the patient’s own immune system to fight any type of cancer.
The profit potential is huge.
The Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved Provenge. The first time the company applied for approval, the application was rejected.
The company has applied for approval for a second time. The government’s decision is expected to come by May 1.
However, despite the tentative status of Provenge—and the fact the company lost millions last year—Dendreon Corporation has been able to attract significant executive talent. One member of the executive team is a former Bayer executive. Nanda is the newest recruit to the company.
About the VP
“With more than 20 years of commercial experience, Varun (Nanda) 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,” Bishop said.
While at Genentech, Nanda oversaw global marketing and lifecycle development for products in Roche/Genentech’s oncology franchise. Prior to assuming that role, 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.
Nanda also held the roles of vice president and senior director for oncology sales and marketing at Genentech.
Prior to joining Genentech, Nanda was director of brand management and product manager of endocrinology at Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Nanda received her master’s degree in business administration from Eastern Illinois University.
