Inovio Expands Manufacturing Consortium For COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate With Addition Of Kaneka

(RTTNews) - Inovio (INO) said that it has expanded global manufacturing consortium for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate INO-4800 with addition of Kaneka Eurogentec S.A. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Kaneka Eurogentec will manufacture Inovio's COVID-19 vaccine candidate INO-4800 at GMP plasmid production scales.

Kaneka Eurogentec joins existing partners Thermo Fisher Scientific, Richter-Helm BioLogics and Ology Biosciences in Inovio's global manufacturing consortium.

INO-4800 is INOVIO's DNA vaccine candidate intended to protect against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

According to the INOVIO, INO-4800 is the only nucleic-acid based vaccine that is stable at room temperature for more than a year and does not need to be frozen in transport of storage, which are important factors when implementing mass immunizations.

Inovio is conducting a Phase 2 segment of its planned Phase 2/3 clinical trial for INO-4800, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The planned Phase 2/3 clinical trial, called INNOVATE, is a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled safety and efficacy trial of INO-4800 to be conducted in adults in the U.S