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Inovio's Electroporation Technology Used By U.S. Army to Demonstrate Protection From Lethal Challenge With Possible Biological Warfare Agent; Pre-Clinical Study Shows Potential Benefit of Vaccine Against Lassa Fever Virus

Posted on: Monday, 19 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

Inovio Biomedical Corporation (AMEX:INO) announced today that its collaborators at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md., are scheduled to present protection data regarding a DNA-based vaccine delivered via Inovio's proprietary electroporation technology at the 13th International Conference on Negative Strand Viruses in Salamanca, Spain, June 17th to 22nd, 2006. Vaccinated animals exhibited potential protection against a lethal challenge with highly pathogenic Lassa fever virus, which is considered to be a possible agent for bioterrorism and biowarfare.

In a collaborative study supported by a congressional appropriation awarded to Inovio in 2005, researchers from USAMRIID demonstrated that vaccination with a DNA vaccine delivered using Inovio's electroporation technology resulted in survival of the majority of animals after challenge with Lassa fever virus. This virus, which is endemic to West Africa, causes a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever. It is responsible for an estimated 100,000-300,000 cases per year and can, when associated with epidemics, reach a mortality rate of up to 50%. Lassa fever virus has been classified as a Category A pathogen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of its potential to be used as a biological weapon due to the stability of the virus particle, demonstrated person-to-person transmission, severity of the disease, capacity for aerosolization and the present lack of therapeutic or prophylactic remedies.

"These data demonstrate the potential utility of Inovio's DNA electroporation technology to elicit protection against one of the world's most deadly pathogens," said Avtar Dhillon, M.D., president and CEO of Inovio. "Inovio is committed to providing the U.S. government with some of the most advanced gene delivery technology available in an effort to help develop measures to protect soldiers and the general public against potential bioterrorist attacks. We are thankful for the congressional appropriations received to date and look forward to continued funding of such important research."

About USAMRIID

USAMRIID, located at Fort Detrick, Md., is the lead medical research laboratory for the U.S. Department of Defense Biological Defense Research Program, and plays a key role in national defense and infectious disease research. The Institute's mission is to conduct basic and applied research on biological threats resulting in medical solutions (such as vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to protect the warfighter. USAMRIID is a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

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. 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 (including, but not limited to, the fact that pre-clinical results referenced in this release may not be indicative of results achievable from testing in humans), the availability of funding to support continuing research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of Inovio's technology as a delivery mechanism, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions targeted by Inovio or its collaborators, evaluation of potential opportunities, level of corporate expenditures, assessment of our technology by potential corporate or other partners or collaborators, 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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