Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recently conferred with Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Awards for "Best Therapeutic Vaccine" and "Best Early Stage Biotech" at the World Vaccine Congress, which is being held this week at Washington, DC. The ViE Awards recognise outstanding vaccine advancements and achievements of vaccine developers across the global industry as judged by a panel of global biotech industry stakeholders.

The "Best Therapeutic Vaccine" award recognised Inovio's DNA vaccine designed to treat HPV-caused cervical dysplasia, VGX-3100. In human studies this therapeutic vaccine has demonstrated that it not only drives robust immune responses to antigens from high risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection but that these immune responses display a powerful killing effect against cells changed by HPV into precancerous dysplasias. This desirable effect may ultimately contribute to the regression or elimination of cervical dysplasia, cervical cancer, and other cancers caused by HPV.

These data have been published in the peer-reviewed journal, Science-Translational Medicine. Inovio is currently assessing the ability of its DNA-based VGX-3100 to treat cervical dysplasias caused by HPV infection in a global phase II trial, with results expected in the first quarter of 2014.

The "Best Early Stage Biotech" award highlights Inovio's pioneering advancement of its proprietary SynCon DNA vaccine and electroporation delivery technologies. Its expanding product pipeline includes clinical programs for HPV-caused dysplasia and cancers, influenza, and HIV, and preclinical programs for hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B virus, prostate cancer, malaria, and other challenging chronic infectious diseases. With its goal of "revolutionizing vaccines," Inovio is a leader in advancing the technology of synthetic DNA vaccines; it has achieved best-in-class T-cell responses, which are considered vital to treating cancers and infectious diseases, with its cervical dysplasia and HIV vaccines; and it has achieved the first human data showing the potential of a next-generation vaccine to provide protective immune responses against multiple strains of a virus that are not specifically matched to the DNA sequences represented in the vaccine.

Dr J Joseph Kim, president and CEO, said, "We greatly appreciate the World Vaccine Congress' recognition of Inovio's leadership and innovation in advancing what we hope and expect to become a vital new generation of immune-system-stimulating technology: DNA vaccines. We also appreciate the specific acknowledgement of the accomplishments of VGX-3100 and its potential to become an important new approach for treating diseases caused by HPV. We look forward to the next stages of this exciting journey to revolutionize vaccines."

The World Vaccine Congress & Expo, now in its 13th year, is the largest and most comprehensive event in the industry. Covering everything from the latest R&D to manufacturing to corporate development strategies, the Congress hosts the only awards ceremony dedicated to the vaccine industry. The ViE Awards honor individuals, organisations and initiatives which have made significant contributions over the past 12 months to innovation in the field of vaccines.

Inovio is revolutionizing vaccines to prevent and treat today's cancers and challenging infectious diseases.