Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex: INO), a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that its partner, ChronTech Pharma AB (formerly Tripep AB), has initiated a Phase IIb clinical study of its ChronVac-C® DNA vaccine for hepatitis C virus (HCV), delivered by Inovio's proprietary electroporation DNA vaccine delivery technology, in combination with standard of care.
In a Phase I clinical trial of ChronVac-C using Inovio's MedPulser® electroporation device the therapy resulted in a robust increase in T-cell immune responses against HCV and was safe and well-tolerated. Post-study observation of subjects who completed the protocol and then entered into standard of care (SOC) treatment using interferon and ribavirin showed a complete and rapid viral response (four weeks) in 70% of those participants (5 of 7 patients). More significantly, 83% of the participants (5 of 6 patients) who were monitored for an extended period of time, continued to be free of the virus six months after they completed SOC. SOC treatment alone usually results in about 40-50% of patients reaching undetectable virus levels after six months of treatment.
This Phase II follow-on trial is an open-label, single-dose, randomized trial of 32 patients to further explore the effect of the ChronVac-C® DNA vaccine administered by Inovio's MedPulser® electroporation delivery device. The therapy will be given two times, with four weeks in between, followed by SOC treatment after the final vaccine dose in treatment-naïve chronic HCV infected genotype-1 subjects. This trial will assess the level of immune responses, levels of HCV viral load, and further assess the response to the delivery technology. Twenty patients will receive ChronVac-C® vaccine delivered with Inovio's electroporation device; the 12-patient comparison group will receive standard-of-care treatment alone. The study has received approval from the Swedish Medical Products Agency and local ethical committee.
"If we can repeat the Phase I results in this phase IIb study there is certainly a possibility that vaccination with ChronVac-C® before drug therapy could become a part of the standard of care therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C-virus infection. In particular, we hope that vaccination with this novel therapy will result in a considerable shortening of the duration of interferon and ribavirin treatment," said Anders Vahlne, CEO of ChronTech Pharma AB.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's president and CEO, said: "We are encouraged by the phase I results showing the improved cure rate in patients who received the HCV vaccine followed by a SOC drug therapy. Any improvement to the HCV standard of care response rates would be well-received by HCV patients and practitioners. We are pleased to collaborate in this advancement of ChronVac-C®, using Inovio's innovative delivery technology, into Phase II."
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