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Inovio Highlights Its Clinical & Technology Platforms for DNA Vaccines and Gene-Based Treatment of Protein-Deficiency Diseases at American Society of Gene Therapy Meeting

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 May 2006, 06:00 CDT

Inovio Biomedical Corporation (AMEX:INO) announced today that it will deliver four presentations at the American Society for Gene Therapy's 9th Annual Meeting to be held in Baltimore, MD, from May 31 to June 4, 2006. All four presentations feature applications of Inovio's non-viral technology for delivering DNA into bodily tissues and cells for therapeutic purposes. The technology, based on the process of electroporation, uses extremely short electrical field pulses to temporarily open cell membranes so that DNA can enter target cells. Once inside the cells, the DNA can elicit the production of proteins to stimulate an immune response or provide therapeutic gene expression.

In Industrial Liaison: Clinical Developments in Gene Vaccines, workshop #214, Michael Fons, PhD, Inovio's executive director, business development, will review the status of the company's clinical electroporation trials and review the pre-clinical packages and regulatory path Inovio has created for the clinical evaluation of DNA delivery with Inovio's proprietary technology. Inovio currently supports four human clinical studies in the US and Europe. This workshop will take place on Thursday, June 1, 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. in room 345/346.

Three other presentations discuss studies relating to Inovio technologies and products in preclinical development:

-- Protection Against In Vivo Tumor Growth After Electroporation-Enhanced DNA Vaccination with the Hepatitis C Virus Non-Structural 3/4A will summarize a study conducted with Tripep AB that demonstrated the efficacy of electroporation in enhancing immune responses capable of eliminating HCV-antigen expressing cells. This poster presentation, #594, was authored by Rune Kjeken, Gustaf Ahlen, Jonas Soderholm, Torunn Tjelle, Iacob Mathiesen, and Matti Sallberg.

-- DNA Vaccines: Induction of Humoral and Cellular Responses Via Skin or Muscle Immunization Enhanced by Electroporation will summarize a study that demonstrated the capacity of certain proprietary methods and devices to elicit powerful immune responses with either skin or muscle as the target tissue. This poster presentation, #597, was authored by Lei Zhang, Georg Widera, Susan Bleecher, and Dietmar Rabussay.

-- Feasibility of Cutaneous Gene Therapy Using a Factor VIII Gene and a Marker Gene in Factor VIII-Deficient Mice by Non-Invasive Electroporation will summarize a preclinical study conducted in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania showing that injection of DNA encoding the blood clotting factor VIII into the skin of hemophilic mice gave rise to the expression of the factor VIII gene. This poster presentation, #862, was authored by Lei Zhang, Amy Goldbeck, Hongbo Lu, Edward Nolan, Dietmar Rabussay, and Steve Fakharzadeh.

"We are pleased to highlight at this important scientific conference the extent of our development activities. Our pre-clinical data shows the capability of electroporation to enable the potential for DNA vaccines to generate clinically relevant immune responses and for genes to treat protein-deficient diseases such as hemophilia," said Avtar Dhillon, MD, president and CEO of Inovio. "Our aim with the four clinical trials currently being conducted with partners is to establish electroporation as a preferred method of DNA delivery for such applications. Inovio pioneered the human clinical use of DNA electroporation and we intend to add partnerships to spearhead new applications and clinical studies using our proprietary technology."

Inovio is currently engaged in four Phase I clinical studies conducted in conjunction with corporate and academic partners. Two Phase I studies, with Vical, Inc. and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, respectively, are directed towards immunotherapy of cancer. Two other clinical studies, with Merck and the University of Southampton, UK, are evaluating DNA vaccines against cancer.

About the American Society of Gene Therapy

The ASGT is a professional non-profit medical and scientific organization dedicated to the understanding, development and application of gene and related cell and nucleic acid therapies and the promotion of professional and public education in the field. ASGT is the largest medical professional organization representing researchers and scientists dedicated to discovering new gene therapies.

About Inovio Biomedical Corporation

Inovio Biomedical Corporation is a late stage biomedical company focused on commercializing its proprietary Selective Electrochemical Tumor Ablation (SECTA) therapy. SECTA is designed to target a significant unmet clinical need: a local treatment for solid tumors, with selective killing of cancer cells while preserving surrounding healthy tissue. Inovio is moving its lead product, the MedPulser(R), through pre-marketing studies for head and neck cancer and skin cancers in Europe, where it has CE Mark accreditation, a U.S. Phase III pivotal study for head and neck cancer, and Phase I trials for pancreatic and breast cancer. Merck, Vical, University of Southampton, and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center are using Inovio's gene delivery technology in clinical studies of novel DNA therapeutics delivered using electroporation. Inovio is a leader in developing human therapeutic applications of electroporation, with the industry's most extensive patent portfolio covering in vivo electroporation. More information is available at www.inovio.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our plans to develop our electroporation drug and gene delivery technology and to maximize shareholder value. Actual events or results may differ from our expectations as a result of a number of factors, including the uncertainties inherent in clinical trials and product development programs, evaluation of potential opportunities, the level of corporate expenditures, the assessment of our technology by potential corporate partners, capital market conditions, and other factors set forth in the our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, our Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2006, and other regulatory filings. There can be no assurance that any product in our product pipeline will be successfully developed or manufactured, or that final results of clinical studies will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market licensed products.

Source: Business Wire

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