Preclinical Data Validates Capability of Inovio SynConTM
DNA Vaccines to Provide Universal Protection Against Evolving, Unmatched
Flu Virus Strains
Inovio Biomedical Corporation (NYSE Amex: INO), a leader in DNA vaccine
discovery, development and delivery, announced today preclinical data
from two studies of influenza DNA vaccines designed using its SynCon™
technology. The data indicated that the consensus H1N1 and H5N1
influenza vaccines achieved significant increases in immune response and
provided protection against influenza virus strains not genetically
matched to the vaccine, which is a requirement for conventional vaccines
to be effective and a limitation to their effectiveness, i.e. they can’t
protect against newly emerging strains. Dr. Niranjan Sardesai, Senior
VP, Research & Development of VGX Pharmaceuticals, which merged with
Inovio Biomedical on June 1, 2009, presented this data at the 12th
Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy held in San
Diego, CA, May 27 - 30, 2009, in a presentation entitled, “Improved
Challenge Outcome Following Intradermic Vaccination by Electroporation
of a Consensus H5N1 Influenza DNA Vaccine in Non-Human Primates.”
In the first study, the scientists immunized non-human primates with a
consensus H5N1 avian influenza vaccine (VGX-3400). Delivered using the
Company’s in vivo electroporation device, the vaccine achieved high
levels of protective antibody titers against unmatched clade 1 and
multiple unmatched clade 2 H5N1 viruses. The animals were then
challenged with the unmatched A/Vietnam/1203/04 strain. There was a
significant reduction in average viral load (amount of virus in the
blood stream) and decreased symptoms of disease in all the vaccinated
animals compared to unvaccinated controls. Animals vaccinated by the
intradermal route had a greater than 10,000-fold reduction in average
viral load compared to untreated controls, an unprecedented result in
comparative studies with similar animal models. These results were
recently published in the May issue of the Journal of Virology.
In the second study, the scientists immunized mice with the SynCon™ H1HA
consensus DNA vaccine. They then challenged the mice with the unmatched
H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu. This virus caused the most
devastating pandemic of the last century, killing over 40 million people
worldwide. While all the control mice died by day 8 after being
challenged with a lethal dose of the virus, all the animals vaccinated
with the consensus H1HA vaccine survived (100% protection) to the end of
the experiment. In addition to measuring survival, the researchers
observed significant protection from infection-associated morbidity in
the H1HA immunized mice.
Dr.
