Inovio Unveils Zika Vaccine Trial In Midst Of Puerto Rico Epidemic

(RTTNews) - Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INO) announced it has initiated a clinical study of its preventive Zika vaccine (GLS-5700) in 160 subjects in Puerto Rico, where the Zika virus outbreak has been declared a public health emergency. The CDC estimates Zika will infect more than 25% of the Puerto Rican population by year end, providing the potential for this study's placebo control design to provide exploratory signals of vaccine efficacy.

Inovio is developing its Zika vaccine, GLS-5700, with GeneOne Life Science, Inc. and academic collaborators from the US and Canada who are also working to advance Inovio's Ebola and MERS vaccines through clinical development.

In June, Inovio was the first to commence a human Zika trial, with sites in the U.S. and Canada. All 40 subjects for the first clinical study have been fully enrolled and dosed. Inovio expects to report results before the end of this year.