Inovio Develops Novel H3N2 Influenza DNA Vaccine That Generates Cross-Reactive Responses and Provides Complete Protection Aga...
September 17 2018 - 8:00AM
H3N2 virus has been one of the most
deadly flu strains in the past 50 years;And is
always matched with the least effective seasonal influenza
vaccine
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) announced today that its
SynCon® vaccine approach using a collection of DNA antigens
generated broadly protective antibody responses against the most
deadly strains of the H3N2 influenza viruses from the past 50 years
and provided complete protection against heterologous lethal
challenge in a preclinical study.
Study results were published online in the
journal, Human Gene Therapy, in an article by Inovio and its
collaborators entitled, “A Synthetic Micro-Consensus DNA Vaccine
Generates Comprehensive Influenza-A H3N2 Immunity and Protects Mice
Against Lethal Challenge by Multiple H3N2 Viruses.” This work was
supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Inovio is currently in discussions with third-party funders to
support further development of the company’s technology with its
advantages in promoting global human health.
Throughout the 2017-18 flu season the
commercially available H3N2 vaccine efficacy was reported low due
to the mismatch between the vaccine and circulating H3N2 viruses.
In some populations the vaccine showed only 13% effectiveness,
which contributed to a much greater rate of pneumonia and
flu-related deaths. In a pursuit of overcoming the antigenic
diversity of H3N2 viruses, Inovio developed a collection of H3HA
DNA antigens and demonstrated broad, functional antibody responses
against H3 viruses in mice. Vaccination was also capable of
inducing robust CD4 and CD8 T cell responses, which are reported to
be critical for prevention of disease in the elderly population.
Additionally, all (100%) vaccinated mice survived when infected
with 10 times of the lethal viral doses from two of the H3N2 virus
which circulated during the 1968 and 1982 outbreaks, highlighting
the strong protection afforded by Inovio’s H3HA vaccine.
Dr. Laurent Humeau, Inovio’s Senior Vice
President, Research & Development, said, “This study is a step
towards conquering the diversity of the H3N2 flu viruses that has
vexed researchers for years. In this preclinical study, Inovio
demonstrated that its SynCon® method of antigen design is capable
of providing protection against multiple H3N2 strains.”
Earlier this year Inovio reported that its
synthetic vaccine approach using a collection of synthetic DNA
antigens generated broad protective antibody responses against all
major deadly strains of H1 influenza viruses from the last 100
years including the virus that caused “Spanish Flu” in 1918 in
multiple animal models including mice, guinea pigs and non-human
primates.
According to CDC, H3N2 hits people harder than
other seasonal flu strains and can be especially deadly among
vulnerable groups like the elderly and children. Researchers still
aren’t sure why, but they’ve found that a flu season involving the
H3 virus is generally more virulent — with more hospitalizations
and flu-related deaths — than seasons involving mostly H1N1 or
influenza B viruses. Furthermore, the H3 part of the commercially
available vaccine doesn’t just work poorly in older adults. Last
year adults aged 18 to 49 got very little protection—13
percent—from the H3 component.
About Inovio Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
Inovio is a late-stage biotechnology company
focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of DNA
immunotherapies that transform the treatment of cancer and
infectious diseases. Inovio’s proprietary platform technology
applies next-generation antigen sequencing and DNA delivery to
activate potent immune responses to targeted diseases. The
technology functions exclusively in vivo, and has been demonstrated
to consistently activate robust and fully functional T cell and
antibody responses against targeted cancers and pathogens. Inovio
is the only immunotherapy company that has reported generating T
cells whose killing capacity correlates with relevant clinical
outcomes. Inovio’s most advanced clinical program, VGX-3100, is in
Phase 3 for the treatment of HPV-related cervical pre-cancer. Also
in development are Phase 2 immuno-oncology programs targeting head
and neck cancer, bladder cancer, and glioblastoma, as well as
platform development programs in hepatitis B, Zika, Ebola, MERS,
and HIV. Partners and collaborators include MedImmune, Regeneron,
Roche/Genentech, ApolloBio Corporation, The Wistar Institute,
University of Pennsylvania, Parker Institute for Cancer
Immunotherapy, CEPI, DARPA, GeneOne Life Science, Plumbline Life
Sciences, Drexel University, NIH, HIV Vaccines Trial Network,
National Cancer Institute, U.S. Military HIV Research Program, and
Laval University. For more information, visit www.inovio.com.
This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements relating to our business, including our
plans to develop electroporation-based drug and gene delivery
technologies and DNA vaccines, our expectations regarding our
research and development programs, including the planned initiation
and conduct of clinical trials and the availability and timing of
data from those trials, and our plans and expectations regarding
partnerships. Actual events or results may differ from the
expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors,
including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies, clinical
trials and product development programs, the availability of
funding to support continuing research and studies in an effort to
prove safety and efficacy of electroporation technology as a
delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA vaccines, our ability to
support our pipeline of SynCon® active immunotherapy and vaccine
products, the ability of our collaborators to attain development
and commercial milestones for products we license and product sales
that will enable us to receive future payments and royalties, the
adequacy of our capital resources, the availability or potential
availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the
conditions targeted by us or our collaborators, including
alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost effective than
any therapy or treatment that we and our collaborators hope to
develop, issues involving product liability, issues involving
patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide us 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 we 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, the impact of government
healthcare proposals and other factors set forth in our Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, our
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2018
and other regulatory filings we make from time to time. There can
be no assurance that any product candidate in our pipeline will be
successfully developed, manufactured or commercialized, that final
results of clinical trials will be supportive of regulatory
approvals required to market licensed products, or that any of the
forward-looking information provided herein will be proven
accurate. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of
this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise
these statements, except as may be required by law.
CONTACTS:
Investors: Ben Matone, Inovio, 484-362-0076,
ben.matone@inovio.comMedia: Jeff Richardson, Inovio, 267-440-4211,
jrichardson@inovio.com
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