Date: 2016-12-01
Type of information: Grant
Company: Inovio Pharmaceuticals (USA - PA)
Investors:
Amount: $6.1 million
Funding type: grant
Planned used:
- • This grant will support the development of a DNA-based monoclonal antibody designed to provide a fast-acting treatment against Zika infection and its debilitating effects.
- This new DNA-based monoclonal antibody technology has properties that best fit a response to address a Zika outbreak in that dMAb products can be designed and manufactured expediently on a large scale using common fermentation technology, are thermal-stable, and may be used as a therapy to provide more rapid protection from or limit the spread of Zika infection. Unlike vaccines, monoclonal antibody-based therapies could provide more immediate protection but do not develop long term immune memory. An ideal approach would therefore include the administration of a dMAb product for immediate protection and a DNA vaccine to train the immune system for longer-term, persistent protection against Zika infection.
- Inovio is advancing two trials for its DNA-based Zika vaccine. It expects to have preliminary results by year end for its U.S./Canada study. In Puerto Rico, where the CDC estimates Zika will infect more than 25% of the population by year end, Inovio’s second study employs a placebo control design that may provide exploratory signals of vaccine efficacy. The company expects to meet with regulators next year to determine the most efficient path forward to develop its Zika vaccine and help mitigate this widespread Zika outbreak that has now expanded into the continental United States.
Others:
- • On December 1, 2016, Inovio Pharmaceuticals announced that it has been awarded a $6.1 million sub-grant through The Wistar Institute to develop a DNA-based monoclonal antibody designed to provide a fast-acting treatment against Zika infection and its debilitating effects. The goal of this program, which is funded by a grant to The Wistar Institute from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is for the researchers to develop a Zika dMAb® therapy ready for human clinical trials in less than two years.
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Is general: Yes
