Dendreon has had enough of the fast money world. The short sellers who hope to profit from a falling stock, and the hedge fund players who thrive on volatility that comes from rumors and speculation, turned this Seattle-based biotech company into one of Wall Street’s great running dramas of the past two years.
Not anymore. At least if the company has its way.
Dendreon, as part of its plan to morph into a full-fledged company that discovers, develops, and markets cancer drugs, has worked behind the scenes to transform its shareholder base from a Wild West gallery into a roster of backers you might expect from a blue-chip biotech. Of course, publicly-traded companies have limited power to influence who buys and sells their stock, but Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) was able to engineer an important switch toward buy-and-hold funds last month as part of its $221 million secondary stock offering through Deutsche Bank, says chief financial officer Greg Schiffman. He wouldn’t name names until they enter the public record, although he did say many are big name healthcare funds with reputations for long-term investing, who had never before bought into Dendreon.
“Dendreon is a stock with very strong emotions, among people who are very supportive or people who don’t support us at all. It was all very passionate on both sides,” Schiffman says. “We have seen a transition in our shareholder base.”
Notice how he used the past tense. Dendreon’s executives have sought to make their stock less of a classic battleground for bulls and bears. This is a sign
