Penn partners with company to develop vaccines

Inovio Pharmaceuticals has expanded its license agreement with Penn to develop new vaccines for deadly infectious diseases.

Under the new license agreement, Penn and Inovio, based in Bluebell, Pa., will continue to research the novel DNA-based vaccine therapy, according to a statement from the company.

David Weiner, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, has developed many of Inovio’s DNA vaccines. The recent license extension builds on the old agreement. It allows for exclusive intellectual property and technology licenses and grants Weiner’s laboratory and Penn royalties on the sales of the products.

DNA vaccine technology takes a different approach from common vaccines, such as the Polio vaccine and Gardasil. Traditional vaccines either resemble or are made of weakened viruses, which train the body’s immune system to destroy it.

DNA-based vaccines, however, are made of synthetic DNA strands that are incorporated into a plasmid — a circular ring of DNA that human cells can take up and express — and then injected into the body, said Inovio President and CEO J. Joseph Kim.

DNA vaccines can be either preventative or therapeutic. In preventative vaccination, the body is trained to recognize a disease, while in therapeutic vaccination, the immune system response is triggered to destroy infected cells.

DNA vaccines are safer than other vaccine forms because they have no ability to infect the patient. Additionally, DNA vaccines can stimulate T-cell response, which makes them effective against cancer and HIV infection.

Many of the DNA vaccines developed by the Inovio and Penn partnership have shown superior results to existing treatment or prevention methods, said Kim, who has three degrees from Penn. DNA therapy will be able to treat a range of deadly infectious diseases and cancers.

Inovio exclusively develops DNA vaccines and delivery mechanisms. The company focuses its resources on unmet disease needs such as HIV, HPV, prostate cancer and breast cancer, among others.

The commercial goals of Inovio are “to take therapies to Phase I and II clinical trials, partner with larger pharmaceutical companies or the Gates foundation to further develop, and sell at the commercial and philanthropic level,” said Kim.

Penn developed one of Inovio’s Phase II clinical trials products, a therapeutic DNA vaccine for cervical cancer. Inovio is currently moving toward Phase I studies with a prostate cancer vaccine also developed at the Penn.

The company is “hoping to have [its] first human testing for prostate cancer compound in mid-2012,” said Kim, adding that this will be the first vaccine of its kind.

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