Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced that it has expanded its existing license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, adding exclusive worldwide licenses for technology and intellectual property for novel DNA vaccines against prostate cancer, CMV (cytomegalovirus), malaria, hepatitis B, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), and MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus). The amendment also encompasses a new optimized IL-12 cytokine gene adjuvant. These new DNA vaccines and technology were developed in the University of Pennsylvania laboratory of Professor David B. Weiner, a pioneer in the field of DNA vaccines and chairman of Inovio's scientific advisory board.    

Dr. J. Joseph Kim, president and CEO, stated, "This eminent DNA vaccine research laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania has continued to expand the potential applications and technology boundaries of this novel and important technology field, and we have achieved compelling preclinical and clinical results. We now have multiple human studies based on this technology platform and look forward to advancing these promising new cancer and infectious disease vaccine candidates toward the clinic. Furthermore, the MRSA vaccine represents our first opportunity in the vital area of untreatable, antibiotic resistant bacterial diseases."  

Under the terms of the original license agreement completed in 2007, the Company obtained exclusive worldwide rights to develop multiple DNA vaccines with the potential to treat and/or prevent HIV, hepatitis C virus, HPV and related diseases, and influenza. In a subsequent amendment in 2010, the license was expanded to include pandemic influenza, chikungunya, foot-and-mouth disease, and chemokine and cytokine molecular adjuvant technologies. These prior and most recent agreements and amendments provide for royalty payments, based on future sales, to the University of Pennsylvania.

Inovio is developing a new generation of vaccines, called DNA vaccines, to treat and prevent cancers and infectious diseases. Its SynCon vaccines are designed to provide broad cross-strain protection against known as well as newly emergent strains of pathogens such as influenza.