Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a late stage developer of oncology therapies and DNA vaccines, has acquired from Valentis, Inc., certain DNA delivery and expression assets, including Valentis' DNAvax polymer delivery system and GeneSwitch gene regulation technology, and rights under existing license agreements with IDM Pharma Inc., Innogenetics and Pharmexa AS. Innogenetics and Pharmexa are currently conducting separate phase I clinical trials of DNA vaccines using the DNAvax polymer delivery system.
The acquisition enhances Inovio's overall gene delivery platform with the addition of complementary technology and increases the number of gene-based therapeutics under clinical evaluation by licensees using Inovio gene delivery technology from four to six.
In addition to the DNAvax polymer delivery system and GeneSwitch gene regulation technology, Inovio has acquired a number of cationic lipid and certain gene expression technologies. Valentis has also agreed to assign to Inovio rights under existing GeneSwitch license agreements with Berlex Biosciences, a division of Schering AG, GlaxoSmithKline, Organon, Lexicon, Senomyx, Wyeth, Genzyme and Invitrogen.
The price paid by Inovio for these rights and technology was $860,000, of which $300,000 was offset by the cancellation of an outstanding debt Valentis owed to Inovio relating to a 2001 license agreement between the parties. Inovio expects that revenue from the GeneSwitch licenses and milestone payments from licensees of the DNAvax technology to contribute to its cash flow.
"The addition of DNA biologics to Inovio's assets expands our delivery technology platform beyond devices and should further assist our partners in their development of medical applications based on electroporation technology," said Avtar Dhillon, M.D., president and CEO of Inovio. "In the case of the GeneSwitch technology, the advantages of regulating gene expression following electroporation should be attractive in a number of ways to existing and future licensees. We view this as the first in a number of value enhancements to be included in our electroporation tool box."