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Inovio Receives NIH Funding to Target its dMAb® Technology Against Antimicrobial-Resistant Infection
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pennsylvania, Sept. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) announced today that the company and its
About this update from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pennsylvania, Sept. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) announced today that the company and its collaborator The Wistar Institute have received a $4.6 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant in support of innovative research to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) employing Inovio's DNA-encoded monoclonal antibodies (dMAb®) platform. Inovio is advancing a ground-breaking approach to combat multidrug-resistant infections based on Inovio's dMAbs. In a recent study, Inovio developed a targeted dMAb approach for AMR and demonstrated that these dMAbs can effectively control multidrug-resistant infection in animal models.\nThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that resistance to antibiotics causes 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths a year in the United States. Estimates of the impact of antimicrobial resistance on the U.S. economy include $20 billion in direct health-care costs, with additional indirect costs as high as $25 billion a year.\nDr. Laurent Humeau, Executive VP and Chief Scientific Officer, said, \"Antimicrobial resistance represents an expanding global public health concern and a tremendous market opportunity for Inovio. While antibiotic-resistant organisms are appearing at an alarming rate, there has been a 30-year hiatus in the development of novel classes of effective antibiotics for combatting these infections. Our ultimate goal is to create a paradigm shift approach to monoclonal antibody technology that results in a pipeline of high impact dMAb products, which can be developed with corporate partnerships, external funding, and collaborations. This grant from the NIH will further this goal.\"\nEarlier this year, Inovio initiated the first human study of its dMAb product (INO-A002) to treat and prevent Zika virus infection. In addition to demonstrating safety and tolerability, this Zika study marks a major step towards the development of a broad range of Inovio's dMAb platform targeting cancer, infectious diseases, and inflammatory diseases. When delivered directly into the body, the genetic instructions provided by the designed synthetic antibody gene sequence instruct the body's cells to become the factory which manufactures the therapeutic antibody (dMAb) products, enabling a major leap in antibody technology. This $4.6 million...