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Inovio Pharmaceuticals

Inovio Pharmaceuticals

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biotechnology company based in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

History

The company was founded on June 29, 1983 as Biotechnologies & Experimental Research, Inc.[1] On December 10, 1991, the company changed its corporate name to BTX, Inc.

On February 8, 1994, the company changed its name to Genetronics. It went public in April 1994 by exchanging shares with Consolidated United Safety Technologies, which was listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange in British Columbia, Canada.[2] On September 2, 1997, the company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). On December 8, 1998, the company listed on the American Stock Exchange and voluntarily de-listed from the TSX on January 17, 2003.

The company's focus during much of its early period as a U.S. stock was on electroporation, a technology for introducing DNA and drugs into cells through a brief electrical pulse that causes tiny pores to open in the cell membrane. Genetronics developed drug delivery systems using electroporation and sold electroporation equipment to the research laboratory market.

On June 15, 2001, Genetronics Biomedical Ltd. completed a change in jurisdiction of incorporation from British Columbia, Canada, to the state of Delaware and became Genetronics Biomedical Corporation. On January 25, 2005, Genetronics Biomedical Corporation acquired Inovio AS, a gene delivery technology company located in Norway.

On March 31, 2005, Genetronics Biomedical Corporation was renamed Inovio Biomedical Corporation.

On June 1, 2009, Inovio Biomedical merged with VGX Pharmaceuticals. Stanley Plotkin joined Inovio's scientific advisory board later that month.[3] On May 14, 2010, the combined entity changed its corporate name to Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

COVID-19

On April 13, 2020, shortly after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, Inovio's senior vice president of research and development Kate Broderick signed the World Health Organization's "Public statement for collaboration on COVID-19 vaccine development" calling for public health restrictions in order to "speed the availability of a vaccine against COVID-19."[4]

Inovio has received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) for three vaccine candidates. The company was granted up to US$22.5 million for its nucleic acid COVID-19 vaccine, for which funding was discontinued. It further received up to US$56 million for its Lassa virus and MERS vaccine candidates, in Phase I and II clinical trials respectively.[5]

Organization

Inovio is a member company of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)[6] and the Medical CBRN Defense Consortium.[7] Inovio's partners and collaborators include the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy,[8] Merck, Tripep, the University of Southampton, University of Pennsylvania, and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.[3:1]

Personnel

Name Position Notes
Prakash Bhuyan Senior Vice President of Clinical Development (former)[9] AstraZeneca, SpyBiotech, Aerium Therapeutics, Pfizer, Merck
Kate Broderick Senior Vice President of Research and Development (former)[10] Maravai LifeSciences
Ben Matone Senior Director of Investor Relations (former)[11] Vaxxinity, Nasdaq
David B. Weiner Scientific Advisory Board Chairman[3:2] University of Pennsylvania Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (P&LM), VGX Pharmaceuticals
Robert Langer Scientific Advisory Board Member[3:3] Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), VGX Pharmaceuticals, Moderna, Nanobiosym
Stanley Plotkin Scientific Advisory Board Member[3:4] Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Aventis Pasteur

According to Robert Malone, he and Jill Glasspool-Malone collaborated in the formation of Inovio, with Jill incorporating the company in the US.[12]

Activities

Inovio has provided notable funding to the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy[13] and Hepatitis B Foundation.[14]

  1. Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Form 10-K. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved January 18, 2021, from https://web.archive.org/web/20210118230712/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1055726/000105572618000014/ino-12312017x10k.htm ↩︎

  2. Speights, K. (2017, April 18). Inovio Pharmaceuticals Stock History: From A to Zika. The Motley Fool. http://archive.vn/2023.02.27-072004/https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/18/inovio-pharmaceuticals-stock-history-from-a-to-zik.aspx ↩︎

  3. Hertel, B., & Richardson, J. (2009, June 24). Vaccine Pioneer Joins Inovio Biomedical’s Scientific Advisory Board. Inovio Pharmaceuticals; Inovio Biomedical Corporation. https://ir.inovio.com/news-releases/news-releases-details/2009/Vaccine-Pioneer-Joins-Inovio-Biomedicals-Scientific-Advisory-Board/default.aspx ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. Jasarevic, T. (2020, April 16). Public statement for collaboration on COVID-19 vaccine development. World Health Organization. http://archive.vn/2020.10.04-153106/https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/13-04-2020-public-statement-for-collaboration-on-covid-19-vaccine-development ↩︎

  5. Our portfolio. CEPI. Retrieved October 21, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221021070613/https://cepi.net/research_dev/our-portfolio/ ↩︎

  6. BIO Member Directory. Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220930103715/https://www.bio.org/bio-member-directory ↩︎

  7. Current Members. MCDC. Retrieved January 3, 2023, from http://archive.today/2023.01.03-195328/https://www.medcbrn.org/current-members/ ↩︎

  8. Partners. Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221204073814/https://www.parkerici.org/network/directory/partners/ ↩︎

  9. Sharma, K., & Williamson, E. (2024, August 12). SpyBiotech Appoints Dr. Prakash Bhuyan as Chief Medical Officer. SpyBiotech. https://web.archive.org/web/20240909235608/https://spybiotech.com/spybiotech-appoints-dr-prakash-bhuyan-as-chief-medical-officer/ ↩︎

  10. Kate Broderick, PhD. Maravai LifeSciences. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://web.archive.org/web/20250108214321/https://www.maravai.com/who-we-are/leadership/kate-broderick-phd/ ↩︎

  11. Ben Matone. Vaxxinity. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220811055057/https://vaxxinity.com/team/ben-matone/ ↩︎

  12. Robert W Malone, MD [@RWMaloneMD]. (2021, August 26). “Another DNA vaccine candidate. Jill actually did the incorporation for Inovio USA back in the day. We were also very involved in discovery/development of this tech platform when were at UMaryland Baltimore.” [Tweet]. Twitter. http://archive.vn/2023.01.22-041301/https://twitter.com/rwmalonemd/status/1430929920121835527 ↩︎

  13. 2009 Annual Meeting. American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://archive.today/2009.12.05-214452/http://www.asgct.org/am09/prelim/supporters.php ↩︎

  14. Block, T. M., & Rosen, J. 2017 Annual Report. Hepatitis B Foundation. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230314121143/https://www.hepb.org/assets/Uploads/HepB-2017-Annual-Report-FINAL.pdf ↩︎