Pharmacy

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, has signed a collaboration agreement with Transgene S A and ChronTech Pharma AB to evaluate a novel therapeutic vaccination strategy against genotype 1 Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in a phase I clinical study.

In this collaboration, the strategy is to use different prime and boost vaccines with the goal of obtaining a clinical effect by inducing different immuneresponses. A phase I study, to be started later this year, will use ChronTech's ChronVac-C® plasmid DNA vaccine delivered by in vivo electroporation using Inovio's Medpulser® DDS as the prime and Transgene's therapeutic vaccine TG4040, a Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), as the boost. In the planned phase I clinical study, each company will contribute their respective products and equally share study-related costs. The study will enroll 12 treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis C at a site in Germany.

Dr J Joseph Kim, President and CEO, Inovio, said, "We look forward to entering the clinic with this prime-boost approach that has demonstrated much promise in preclinical studies." "The extensive preclinical studies that have been performed by the companies together with their unique clinical experience has paved the way for this very exciting clinical trial," added Anders Vahlne, CEO, ChronTech.