PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.,
March 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/
-- Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) announced today
the appointment of Jacqueline E.
Shea, PhD, as Inovio's Chief Operating Officer (COO) and
Executive Vice President. Dr. Shea is an experienced life
sciences senior executive with an extensive track record of
leadership, strategy development, operational management, product
development and international corporate development achievements.
She most recently served as CEO and COO of Aeras, the leading
not-for-profit organization dedicated to developing new
tuberculosis vaccines. At Inovio, Dr. Shea will be responsible for
Inovio's manufacturing, commercial, business development, and
alliance management operations as well as serving as a key member
of the executive team along with CFO and CSO in formulating and
implementing overall corporate strategy. Dr. Shea replaces
Dr. Niranjan Y. Sardesai who now
serves as Chief Executive Officer of Geneos Therapeutics, a
spin-out of Inovio developing personalized cancer treatments.
![Inovio Pharmaceuticals. (PRNewsFoto/Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) Inovio Pharmaceuticals. (PRNewsFoto/Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/13217/inovio_pharmaceuticals_inc_logo4109_21100jpg.jpg)
Across the board, Inovio has taken steps to streamline its
management responsibilities to better align comprehensive
development strategy from discovery to commercialization. Effective
immediately, Inovio's global clinical and R&D functions will
report to Dr. Laurent Humeau,
Inovio's Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President.
As a part of this realignment, Dr. Mark
Bagarazzi, formerly Chief Medical Officer, has left the
company. In place of the Chief Medical Officer position,
Inovio's newly formed Medical Council will oversee all clinical
studies and medical-related reporting and monitoring activities and
will report to Dr. Humeau. Inovio's Medical Council comprises three
of Inovio's current Vice Presidents of Clinical Development:
Prakash Bhuyan, MD (HPV program);
Jeffrey Skolnik, MD, (cancer); and
Scott White, MD (infectious
diseases).
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's
President and CEO, said, "This strategic reorganization will
improve execution of current clinical programs and provide the
management alignment to seamlessly connect new product research to
commercial product candidates. Drs. Shea and Humeau are
accomplished industry executives who have demonstrated their
leadership qualities and delivered commercial results. In addition,
the three physicians who make up our Medical Council have deep
expertise in the global clinical development of Inovio's major
therapeutic areas of cancer, infectious disease and our lead
program devoted to HPV diseases."
Dr. Shea said, "I am excited by Inovio's proven development
platform and clinical pipeline and its potential to address major
diseases across cancer and infection. In addition to the vaccines
and immunotherapies that are in the clinic, I see the tremendous
potential for the dMAb programs to drive significant value for the
company and am delighted to join the leadership team developing
Inovio's portfolio of products."
Prior to her role at Aeras, Dr. Shea held top management
positions at two biotechnology companies: Emergent Product
Development UK (part of Emergent BioSolutions) and Microscience
Ltd; and was general manager of The Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis
Consortium, a global health joint venture formed between
Oxford University and Emergent
BioSolutions. She started her career as a post-doctoral researcher
at Imperial College, London, where
she contributed to the development of signature-tagged mutagenesis
which received a Prix Galien
commendation for excellence in innovative research. She
received her PhD from the National Institute for Medical Research
and a BSC in Applied Biology with First Class Honors from
University of Bath.
About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Inovio is a late-stage biotechnology company focused on the
discovery, development, and commercialization of DNA-based
immunotherapies and vaccines that transform the treatment and
prevention of cancer and infectious disease. Inovio's proprietary
technology platform applies 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'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 HPV-related cancers,
bladder cancer, and glioblastoma, as well as platform development
programs in hepatitis B, Zika, Ebola, MERS, and HIV. Partners and
collaborators include AstraZeneca, Regeneron, Roche/Genentech,
ApolloBio Corporation, The Wistar Institute, The Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, the University of
Pennsylvania, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy,
CEPI, DARPA, GeneOne Life Science, Plumbline Life Sciences, NIH,
HIV Vaccines Trial Network, National Cancer Institute, U.S.
Military HIV Research Program, Drexel
University, and Laval
University. For more information, visit www.inovio.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements relating to our business, including Dr. Shea's
responsibilities, the role of our newly formed Medical Council and
anticipated benefits of our strategic reorganization. Actual
events or results may differ from the expectations set forth herein
as a result of a number of factors, including our ability to
successfully implement the strategic reorganization and effectively
integrate and transition changes in management, our ongoing
business needs and other factors set forth in our Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September
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:
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Investors:
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Ben Matone, Inovio,
484-362-0076, ben.matone@inovio.com
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Media:
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Jeff Richardson,
Inovio, 267-440-4211, jrichardson@inovio.com
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SOURCE Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.