First, the company quietly said it was temporarily stopping mid-stage trials of the Alzheimer's treatment, a therapeutic vaccine dubbed AN-1792, because four patients had become sick.

FORBES: Magazine Article

No therapeutic cancer vaccine had ever made it to the market here, despite numerous attempts.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Here are five key numbers that will help determine how fast Provenge, the first therapeutic cancer vaccine, sells.

FORBES: Pharma Stories You May Have Missed

Provenge fans, who include many individual investors and some patients, often try to paint Provenge, the first therapeutic cancer vaccine, as the be-all-and-end-all of tumor-stopping.

FORBES: Dendreon Foe Fails, But...

"Whenever you're working with a vaccine, specifically a novel therapeutic like this, you run the risk of all sorts of difficult types of responses, " says Robert Hazlett, an analyst at Robertson Stephens.

FORBES: Elan: Boom Times And Tragedy

"Whenever you're working with a vaccine, specifically a novel therapeutic like this, you run the risk of all sorts of difficult types of responses, " Robert Hazlett, an analyst at Robertson Stephens, said last week.

FORBES: Elan Ends Alzheimer's Vaccine Trials