Date: 0000-00-00
Type of information: Grant
Company:
Investors: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (USA)
Amount: $6.95 million
Funding type: grant
Planned used:
- The grant will be used to develop a single or combination therapy using Inovio’s PENNVAX-GP with the goal of attaining long-term HIV remission in the absence of antiviral drugs. A proof-of-concept clinical program will test whether enhancing anti-HIV specific CD8 killer T cell immune responses alone or in combination with other products can influence the size of the viral reservoir pool, potentially resulting in reducing or eradicating the virus. This is a two-step clinical study in HIV-positive subjects to assess Inovio’s HIV immunotherapy PENNVAX-GP with INO-9012 (an IL-12 immune activator) alone and with the addition of a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor.
- All trials will be randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled assessments of PENNVAX-GP. They will be conducted at the University of California in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
- PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors have proven effective in treating cancer and may have a role in the management of chronic infectious diseases. This trial seeks to demonstrate that an in vivo immunotherapy combining a PD-1 inhibitor and PENNVAX-GP will enhance the CD8 killer T cell response to HIV infected cells.
- PENNVAX-GP is currently being studied in a phase I trial (HVTN-098) to evaluate safety and immunogenicity in 94 healthy volunteers. In this study, PENNVAX-GP is being evaluated as a preventive vaccine. The newly funded study will assess the impact of this vaccine approach in a therapeutic setting.
Others:
- • On March 30, 2017, Inovio Pharmaceuticals announced that its academic and industry collaborators received a multi-year $6.95 million grant from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a single or combination therapy using Inovio’s PENNVAX-GP with the goal of attaining long-term HIV remission in the absence of antiviral drugs.
- In addition, Inovio and its collaborators were awarded a five-year $16 million Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development (IPCAVD) grant in 2015 from NIAID.
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Is general: Yes
