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Inovio Biomedical DNA Delivery Technology to Be Presented at the Fifth World Congress on Vaccines By Researcher From Merck & Co., Inc.

Posted on: Tuesday, 7 November 2006, 12:00 CST

Inovio Biomedical Corp. (AMEX:INO), a leader in enabling the development of DNA vaccines using electroporation-based DNA delivery, announced today that its development partner Merck & Co., Inc. will present preliminary scientific data on investigational vaccines, including results from a tolerability study using Inovio's MedPulser® DNA Delivery System, during the Fifth World Congress on Vaccines, Immunization and Immunotherapy being held at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada, Nov. 6-8, 2006.

Inovio's collaboration with Merck began in 2003 with a clinical study to test the tolerability of electroporation in muscle using the company's DNA delivery technology. In 2005, data from this study supported the decision to progress one of Merck's investigational vaccines into Phase I clinical testing. Dr. Nicola La Monica, a lead scientist within Merck Research Laboratories, is making an oral presentation entitled, "A triple approach for a successful cancer immunotherapy: Targeting functional tumor antigens, developing enabling vaccination technologies, combating the immunosuppressive tumor environment," on Tuesday, November 7th, at 11:30 a.m. EST.

"Validation of the tolerability of electroporation in human muscle by Merck has aided the development of additional DNA vaccine programs," stated Avtar Dhillon, MD, president and CEO of Inovio. "We remain committed to adding more corporate partnerships to our expanding list and increasing the overall value of our DNA vaccine franchise."

About Inovio's DNA Delivery Technology

DNA vaccines have the potential to by-pass scientific obstacles inherent in the development of conventional vaccines. For example, DNA vaccines may be better in stimulating cellular immunity necessary to fight chronic infection or diseases such as cancer. Despite this promise, vaccination using DNA plasmids alone, without enhanced delivery, has not been shown to reach the threshold for clinical benefit.

Intramuscular delivery of DNA vaccines using Inovio's proprietary electroporation technology has been shown in primate studies to boost the immune response by orders of magnitude over DNA plasmid alone. Plasmid-based vaccines induced higher levels of antibodies and T-cell responses when delivered via electroporation, suggesting the potential to provide better protection from infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.

About Inovio Biomedical Corporation

Inovio Biomedical Corporation is a late stage biomedical company focused on a cancer ablation therapy and development of multiple DNA vaccines. Inovio is commercializing its proprietary Selective Electrochemical Tumor Ablation (SECTA) therapy and its delivery platform for gene-based treatments.

SECTA is designed for local treatment of solid tumors, with selective killing of cancer cells while preserving surrounding healthy tissue. Inovio is moving its lead product, the MedPulser®, 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 a Phase I trial for breast cancer.

Merck & Co., Inc., Vical, University of Southampton and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center are conducting phase I clinical studies of novel gene-based therapies and DNA vaccines delivered using Inovio's electroporation-based technology. Innogenetics and Pharmexa are conducting DNA vaccine clinical studies using the company's recently acquired DNAvax® technology. Inovio is a leader in developing human therapeutic applications of electroporation and DNA vaccination, 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

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