Inovio Collaborator ChronTech Reports Interim Phase II Results from ChronVac-C Hepatitis C Vaccine

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: INO) today announced the release of preliminary clinical trial results by its collaborator ChronTech AS of their open label phase II clinical study of ChronVac-C®, ChronTech's vaccine to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The study investigated the use of the ChronVac-C DNA vaccine administered with Inovio's MedPulserTM-DDS electroporation device followed by a drug regimen (ribavirin + PEG-interferon-a) in chronic HCV positive subjects. These initial results do not show a statistically significant difference so far between treatment outcomes of the vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups. The vaccinated group did display an excellent safety profile. In this 29 patient phase II study, 17 patients were treated with two monthly vaccinations of ChronVac-C (500 ug) followed by interferon and ribavirin. In the control arm, 12 patients were treated with interferon and ribavirin alone. ChronTech has now made a first analysis 12 weeks after treatment. HCV viral load reduction or elimination is assessed by measuring HCV RNA levels. At treatment week 12, 71% of the pre-vaccinated group had less than 15 international units of HCV RNA