Date: 2016-08-07
Type of information: Initiation of development program
phase:
Announcement: initiation of development program
Company: Inovio Pharmaceuticals (USA - PA)
Product: dMAb® DNA targeting HIV
Action
mechanism: monoclonal antibody. Inovio's technology is based on the fact that the DNA for a monoclonal antibody is encoded in a DNA plasmid, delivered directly into cells of the body using electroporation, and the mAbs are "manufactured" by these cells. Using this newly patented approach, Inovio published that a single administration of a highly optimized DNA-based monoclonal antibody targeting HIV virus in mice generated antibody molecules in the bloodstream possessing desirable functional activity including high antigen-binding and HIV-neutralization capabilities against diverse strains of HIV viruses. The potential of this technology was further demonstrated in two additional published studies where dMAb products for Chikungunya and dengue viruses were able to completely protect the treated mice from lethal exposure to these viruses.
Disease: HIV infection
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On July 14, 2016, Inovio Pharmaceuticals announced that its novel DNA-based monoclonal antibody technology will be deployed to develop products which could be used alone and in combination with other immunotherapies in the pursuit of new ways to treat and potentially cure infection from the HIV virus. In a recently published article, Inovio demonstrated that a single administration in mice of a highly optimized dMAb® DNA, which targets HIV, generated antibody molecules in the bloodstream that possessed desirable functional activity including high antigen-binding and HIV-neutralization capabilities against diverse strains of HIV viruses. Funding for Inovio’s effort to treat and potentially cure HIV is part of a $23 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to The Wistar Institute, an Inovio collaborator. This grant brings together Inovio and more than 30 of the nation's leading HIV investigators to work on finding a cure for the virus. The grant, called BEAT-HIV: Delaney Collaboratory to Cure HIV-1 Infection by Combination Immunotherapy, is one of six awarded by the NIH as part of the Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure Research.
