|
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Bolsters Research and Clinical Development Leadership as it Advances Cancer & Infectious Disease Immunotherapies
New VPs of R&D and Clinical Development add extensive pharmaceutical and biotech immunotherapy product development experience
BLUE BELL, Pa., Feb. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Inovio
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex: INO) today announced it has expanded its senior management team with two appointments to help advance
the company's growing pipeline of preclinical and clinical DNA vaccines. Inovio has appointed Dr. Laurent Humeau as Vice President of R&D
and Dr. Jan Marie-Albert Van Tornout as Vice President of Clinical Development.
Prior to Inovio, Dr. Humeau was Senior Director of Translational Research, Human Therapeutics Division for Intrexon and
previously Chief Scientific Officer at VIRxSYS Corporation. At Inovio, Dr. Humeau will provide the technical and strategic leadership
for its R&D group including: preclinical development of immunotherapy and vaccine candidates, immunology and immune monitoring
approaches, method development, product characterization, and analytical development.
Dr. Van Tornout will bring his broad experience as a lead oncology pharmaceutical executive to Inovio's cancer programs,
overseeing its oncology pipeline strategy, planning clinical development, and steering early and late-stage clinical programs. Before
joining Inovio, Dr. Van Tornout was Executive Director and Global Oncology Medical Lead for Astellas Pharma. Previously he was Group
Director and Lead, Oncology Development at Bristol Myers Squibb and Medical Director/ Global Safety for Amgen.
Building on the best-in-class immune response data already reported by Inovio, Drs. Humeau and Van Tornout will play an
integral role in advancing Inovio's portfolio of immunotherapy technologies with their multi-disease potential and rapidly expanding
list of experimental candidates, new therapeutic cancer products, clinical study opportunities, and partnering prospects. Inovio's
lead DNA immunotherapy product, VGX-3100, designed to treat HPV-related cancers and pre-cancers, will generate efficacy and
immunogenicity data from a phase II trial for high grade cervical dysplasia mid-year 2014. Inovio also plans to expand
testing of this product to treat HPV-related cervical and head & neck cancers, the latter the most rapidly growing
cancer in men. Last year, Inovio signed a $400-plus million collaboration with Roche to co-develop its
therapeutic vaccine for prostate cancer, INO-5150, which is expected to enter clinical trials this year.
Inovio's pipeline includes its therapeutic DNA vaccine targeting hTERT, known as INO-1400, which is found in 85% of human
cancers. Inovio intends to evaluate INO-1400 in breast, lung, and pancreatic cancers later this year. Also included in Inovio's broad
immunotherapy pipeline are its DNA-based immune activators/modulators as well as its research-stage DNA-based monoclonal antibodies.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's President and CEO, said: "We want to continue to show leadership in advancing active
immunotherapies. As we expose the full breadth of Inovio's technology base and build our company for growth and an expanding
pipeline, Inovio will greatly benefit from the scientific expertise and commercial mindset that these two talented
executives bring to our biotech company. Drs. Humeau and Van Tornout have held global research and clinical
development positions and have a demonstrated track record for achieving regulatory milestones. They will
play a major role as Inovio addresses unmet medical needs and delivers the next generation of medicines
based on our DNA therapies."
Dr. Humeau received his BS and MS in biology from the University Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris and a PhD in blood cell biology
from the University Denis Diderot, Paris. Dr. Humeau will report to Dr. Niranjan Sardesai, Inovio's Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Van
Tornout earned his MD from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and holds MS degrees in classical philosophy from the
Katholieke Universiteit and applied biometry from the University of Southern California, in addition to a BS in Science
from Faculte Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium. Dr. Van Tornout will report to Dr. Mark Bagarazzi, Inovio's Chief Medical Officer.
###
About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Inovio is revolutionizing vaccines to prevent and treat today's cancers and challenging infectious diseases. Its
SynCon® vaccines are designed to provide universal cross-strain protection against known as well as newly emergent unmatched
strains of pathogens such as influenza. These synthetic vaccines, in combination with Inovio's proprietary electroporation
delivery, have been shown in humans to generate best-in-class immune responses with a favorable safety profile. Inovio's
clinical programs include Phase II studies for cervical dysplasia, leukemia and hepatitis C virus and Phase I studies
for influenza and HIV. Partners and collaborators include the University of Pennsylvania, Merck, ChronTech, National
Cancer Institute, U.S. Military HIV Research Program, NIH, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, University of Southampton,
US Dept. of Homeland Security and PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. More information is available
at www.inovio.com .
###
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop
electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA vaccines and our capital resources. Actual events or results
may differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in
pre-clinical studies, clinical trials and product development programs (including, but not limited to, the fact that
pre-clinical and clinical results referenced in this release may not be indicative of results achievable in other
trials or for other indications, that the studies or trials may not be successful or achieve the results
desired, that pre-clinical studies and clinical trials may not commence or be completed in the time
periods anticipated, that results from one study may not necessarily be reflected or supported by
the results of other similar studies and that results from an animal study may not be
indicative of results achievable in human studies), the availability of funding to
support continuing research and studies in an effort to prove safety and
efficacy of electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or
develop viable DNA vaccines, the adequacy of our capital
resources, the availability or potential availability
of alternative therapies or treatments for the
conditions targeted by the company or its collaborators, including alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost-effective than
any therapy or treatment that the company and its collaborators hope to develop, evaluation of potential opportunities, issues
involving product liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide the company with
meaningful protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or
defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether
the company can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or
defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments of the company's technology by potential
corporate or other partners or collaborators, capital market conditions, the impact of government
healthcare proposals and other factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2010 , our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, and
other regulatory filings from time to time. There can be no assurance that any product in
Inovio's pipeline will be successfully developed or manufactured, that final results of
clinical studies will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market
licensed products, or that any of the forward-looking information provided
herein will be proven accurate.
CONTACTS:
Investors: Bernie Hertel, Inovio Pharmaceuticals 858-410-3101 bhertel@inovio.com
Media: Jeff Richardson, Richardson & Associates 805-491-8313 jeff@richardsonglobalpr.com
Source: Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
"Reproduced with permission - Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
For more HIV and AIDS News visit...
Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News
|
