Inovio Pharmaceuticals' Synthetic Vaccines Delivered With Minimally Invasive Skin Electroporation Technology Generate Potent Immune Responses

BLUE BELL, Pa., Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: INO) announced today the publication of positive immunological effects in preclinical animal models of optimized electroporation (EP) parameters for its minimally invasive skin (intradermal) EP delivery devices in the peer-reviewed journal, Human Gene Therapy.

The newly published optimized conditions for Inovio's skin EP delivery systems will dramatically enhance this delivery system as an attractive method for mass vaccination by decreasing dose levels, increasing tolerability of the vaccination, and increasing the breadth of viable vaccine targets. The newly optimized conditions pave the path for more efficient delivery for Inovio's universal flu vaccines as well as the HIV vaccines currently in testing in Phase I studies.

In a paper entitled, "Intradermal DNA vaccination enhanced by low-current electroporation improves antigen expression and induces robust cellular and humoral immune responses," Inovio scientists and collaborators demonstrated that the optimization of EP parameters including the decreased use of the current could generate stronger antibody and T cell responses to HIV and flu vaccine antigens in both guinea pigs and monkeys.

Skin is an attractive target tissue for delivering DNA vaccines for multiple reasons: skin is the largest organ of the human body and readily accessible; it is highly immunocompetent, meaning it is the tissue most capable of developing a broad immune response to antigens.

Dr. J. Joseph Kim, president and CEO of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, said, "This study of our new minimally invasive skin delivery system could lead to an increase in the ease of administration and a strengthening of the vaccine's potency. These technologies should play an important role in Inovio's quest to develop paradigm changing vaccines and immune therapies for several major diseases."

Inovio has already conducted two separate phase I studies of its universal flu vaccine using the skin EP delivery system and generated broadly protective hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers against some of the most prevalent strains of H5N1 and H1N1 influenza.

The published research study was funded in part by a $25 million HIV vaccine development contract from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a $3.1 million National Institutes of Health Director's Transformative Research Award for universal flu vaccine development.

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, our ability to secure new partnerships and collaborations, 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, 2011, our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, 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, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, 267-440-4211, jrichardson@inovio.com

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SOURCE Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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