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INOVIO Announces Strategy to Address Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Future SARS-CoV-2 Variants
INO-4800 has maintained broad T cell responses against previously known variants of concern PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Nov. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- INOVIO
About this update from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"INO-4800 has maintained broad T cell responses against previously known variants of concern\n\n\nPLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Nov. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- INOVIO (NASDAQ:INO), a biotechnology company focused on bringing to market precisely designed DNA medicines to help protect people from infectious diseases and treat cancer and HPV-associated diseases, today announced the company is rapidly moving to evaluate its COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidates INO-4800 and INO-4802 against the emerging B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant of concern. Concurrently, INOVIO has initiated pre-clinical development of an Omicron-specific DNA vaccine candidate and will progress if needed.\nThe Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is the latest variant to emerge, following previous variants of concern (VOCs), Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. Notably, INO-4800 has maintained T cell responses against these previously identified VOCs as well as the ability to generate binding and neutralizing antibodies against them. Generally, T cell immune responses are less likely to be evaded by multiple mutations, and the ability to generate a strong T cell response is likely to play a crucial role in reducing mortality and the severity of symptoms in those infected. More specifically, Omicron mutations at the T cell level is predicted to be only 2%, supporting that majority of the T cell epitopes induced by T cell generating vaccines such as INO-4800 will likely remain capable of targeting this variant. INOVIO plans to test clinical samples from our INO-4800 vaccine candidate as well as our Pan-COVID-19 vaccine candidate INO-4802 against the Omicron variant to assess the generation of immune responses, with data expected in the coming weeks.\nDr. J. Joseph Kim, INOVIO's President and CEO, said, \"INOVIO is moving rapidly to test its COVID-19 vaccine candidates against the emerging Omicron variant. Both INO-4800, our lead candidate vaccine currently in Phase 3 testing) and INO-4802, our Pan-COVID-19 vaccine candidate, have maintained T cell responses and generated neutralizing antibodies against previous SARS-CoV-2 VOCs. In particular, we believe that INO-4800's ability to generate durable T cell responses, which could be resilient to changes in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, positions INO-4800 as a potentially important tool in the U.S. and international arsenal against both current and future va...