Inovio Announces First Patient Dosed With Universal HIV Vaccine - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (INO) announced that the first patient has been dosed in a phase I trial to evaluate safety and tolerability of PENNVAX-GP, Inovio"s "universal" DNA vaccine for HIV. This human study is in collaboration with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network or HVTN.

The company said that the trial will measure immune responses following administration of the vaccine in four groups of healthy subjects receiving the vaccine with and without an immune activator and delivered into muscle or skin using Inovio's CELLECTRA delivery technology. This study is conducted by the HVTN and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases or NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health NIH.

Development of the PENNVAX-GP vaccine, which targets multiple clades of HIV—providing global coverage—has been funded through a $25 million NIAID contract awarded to Inovio and its collaborators.

Results from the previous PENNVAX phase I trial, HVTN 080, were published in Journal of Infectious Diseases in 2013 and showed that 89% of subjects developed a robust CD4 or CD8 response. In addition, immune response rates remained strong and persistent six months after vaccination, the company noted.