BLUE BELL, Pa., July 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Inovio
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex:
INO), a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive
vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today
that significant T cell and antibody responses were generated in
its Phase I clinical study of VGX-3400X, a SynCon™ DNA
vaccine for the prevention of avian H5N1 influenza delivered using
intramuscular (IM) electroporation. These results were presented at
DNA Vaccines 2011, hosted in San Diego by the International Society
of DNA Vaccines, by Dr. Niranjan Sardesai, Inovio’s Sr. VP,
Research and Development. In conjunction with these results, Inovio
has launched a second Phase I clinical study as part of its
universal influenza vaccine program. This trial will assess a
multi-subtype SynCon vaccine for H1N1 and H5N1 influenza using its
skin-targeted intradermal (ID) electroporator. Inovio’s
SynCon™ vaccine design process uses a proprietary method to
achieve cross-strain protection against the natural and frequent
mutations of influenza strains within subtypes.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio’s president and CEO, said: “We are
encouraged by the immune responses generated in this
proof-of-principle study of our first SynCon™ influenza
vaccine, VGX-3400X, delivered using intramuscular electroporation.
The second Phase I study (INO-3510) builds on our universal
influenza vaccine development program by adding a second component
targeting the H1N1 subtype and delivering vaccine formulations
using our minimally invasive intradermal electroporation delivery
system, which is designed to directly access the skin tissue that
is most ideal for inducing preventive antibody responses. Inovio’s
ultimate goal is to develop a broadly cross-protective influenza
vaccine simultaneously targeting multiple flu sub-types and
unmatched strains within subtypes. We are approaching
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