Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:INO) reported encouraging results in treating one of the difficult and most devastating cancers, GBM (glioblastoma multiforme). The company also achieved significant breakthroughs in DNA Medicines in improving immune responses in patients suffering from infectious diseases and cancer.
Advances INO-4800, the DNA vaccine
CEO of Inovio, J. Joseph Kim said the company showed exemplary performance in Q2 2020 in enhancing the potential of DNA medicines platform in meeting the urgent health needs worldwide.
Inovio will commence the Phase 2/3 clinical trial of INO-4800 in September 2020. The company will also release compelling data from the clinical study of INO-4800 soon. It plans to expand the production capacity to manufacture a minimum of 100 million doses of this innovative drug to treat coronavirus next year.
Effectiveness of INO-4800 in curing COVID-19
Inovio achieved positive results in Phase 1 clinical study of INO-4800 conducted on the US’s first two cohorts. The company recruited 40 patients aged between 18 and 50 years at two sites in the US. They are administered 1mg and 2 mg of INO-4800 in two separate groups through intradermal injection using the CELLECTRA® 2000 device. Each participant in the trial is given two doses of drug four weeks apart.
The clinical data obtained from this clinical trial is submitted for peer review by a medical journal. According to the results, the participants in both the trial cohorts well tolerated the drug and not witnessed any serious adverse side effects through week 8. Only 6 of the participants suffered mild, transient adverse effects associated with the dose.
Of the total 38 participants, 39 have demonstrated improved immunological responses, which are based on the neutralizing and binding antibody responses. Around 90% of the participants in the vaccination program demonstrated strong T cell responses.
Inovio added 80 patients aged 18 and above, in mid-July 2020, the Phase 1 clinical study.
Significant funding from the government
Inovio received significant grants from the private agencies and government in H1 2020 for expanding the production and scale-up development of the vaccine. DOD (Department of Defense) contributed $71 million to enhance CELLECTRA® 3PSP smart device production and to purchase CELLECTRA 2000 devices for intradermal injection of INO-4800.
Inovio posted growth of 96.323% YoY to $267,000 in Q2 2020. Its operating expenses increased marginally to $33.4 million. The company’s spending on R&D remained flat at $22.4 million in Q2 2020.
