• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Study Results Point to Possible Application of Inovio's Electroporation-Based Therapy in Conjunction With Surgery to Treat Solid Tumor Margins

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 September 2006, 06:00 CDT

Inovio Biomedical Corporation (AMEX:INO) announced today the presentation of a report summarizing results of a wound healing study conducted in collaboration with scientists at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. The data, presented at the Gordon Research Conference for Bioelectrochemistry in Aussois, France, September 3-8, 2006, demonstrates that wound healing following surgical incision is not significantly influenced by Inovio's electroporation-based SECTA therapy. This study was conducted to evaluate a potential use of SECTA, for the treatment of solid tumor margins following surgical resection of cancerous tumors. The positive result of this study is a validating step for this new application, which could potentially expand Inovio's market opportunity to include many surgical procedures for solid tumors.

One of the methods of treating solid tumors, which represent the majority of new cancer incidences, is resection of the tumor and removal of a margin of predominantly healthy tissue around the main tumor mass with the aim of removing potential peripheral cancerous cells that could lead to a local recurrence. The removal of this tumor margin can result in function loss and potentially detrimental cosmetic effects.

As an alternative to surgery alone, this possible new therapeutic approach would combine surgical debulking (using a scalpel) of the tumor mass followed by treatment with the SECTA therapy of the surrounding margin of tissue with the intent to reduce healthy tissue removal while also reducing local recurrence rates.

"I am extremely pleased by the result of this study, which opens the possibility for improving surgical outcomes in cancer therapy. There is a tremendous unmet clinical need, especially for advanced cancer where recurrence rates associated with surgery remain high," commented Avtar Dhillon, MD, Inovio's CEO. "Treatment of margin tissue with SECTA potentially expands the market for our product beyond those indications currently being pursued for the use of the technology as a monotherapy. We envision that in the future surgical margins could be routinely treated with SECTA, providing increased benefit to patients."

The Gordon Research Conferences provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies.

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, including alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost-effective than any therapy or treatment that Inovio and its collaborators hope to develop, evaluation of potential opportunities, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide Inovio with meaningful protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether Inovio can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments 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 six months ended June 30, 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

More News in this Category