SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Inovio Biomedical Corporation (NYSE Amex: INO), a leader in DNA vaccine
design, development and delivery, announced that its board of directors
elected David J. Williams, former chairman and CEO of Sanofi Pasteur,
the vaccine business of Sanofi-Aventis Group, and Keith H. Wells, a
senior member of the Biologics Consulting Group and former director of
vaccine development for The Salk Institute, to the board.
David J. Williams retired in 2008 as chairman & CEO of Sanofi Pasteur,
the vaccines business of the Sanofi-Aventis Group. His leadership moved
the company from a niche vaccine business to the global leader in
vaccine development, production and sales, with revenues of more than $6
billion in 2007. Under his guidance, more than a billion doses of
lifesaving vaccines were administered to more than 500 million people
around the world each year, representing more than 25% of the global
vaccine market. During his tenure the company licensed more than 30 new
vaccines and launched hundreds of business development deals.
For the past 20 years, Keith H. Wells, a senior member of Biologics
Consulting Group, has overseen all facets of vaccine development
including process development and validation, manufacturing operations,
and U.S. and European regulatory strategy for several international
companies. He has directed vaccine development at Acambis, PLC, Oravax,
and The Salk Institute, and provided R&D support to vaccine
manufacturing at Merck & Co. He has a Ph.D. in microbiology and
immunology from State University of New York Health Science Center at
Syracuse.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, president & CEO of Inovio, said: “These two business
leaders each have multiple decades of experience leading and executing
the development and commercialization of cutting-edge vaccine technology
and important new vaccines. Their expertise will be invaluable to Inovio
as we advance a new generation of vaccines - DNA vaccines delivered
using the potency-enhancing capabilities of electroporation - that are
displaying superior results and potential to not only prevent but treat
challenging infectious diseases and cancers.”
Inovio Biomedical’s other board members are Avtar Dhillon, M.D.,
Inovio’s executive chairman; Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio’s president &
CEO; Simon Benito, former senior vice president of Merck’s vaccine
division; Morton Collins, general partner of Battelle Ventures; and Ng
Tee Khiang, co-founder of Evia Capital Partners and Evia Growth
Opportunities.
About Inovio Biomedical Corporation
Inovio Biomedical is focused on the design, development, and delivery of
a new generation of vaccines, called DNA vaccines, to prevent and treat
cancers and infectious diseases. The company’s SynCon™ technology
enables the design of DNA-based vaccines capable of protecting against
both known and new, unknown strains of pathogens such as influenza.
Inovio’s proprietary electroporation-based DNA vaccine delivery
technology has been shown by initial human data to safely and
significantly increase gene expression and immune responses. Inovio’s
clinical programs include HPV/cervical cancer (therapeutic) and HIV
vaccines. An IND has been filed for an avian influenza vaccine. Inovio
is developing its universal and avian influenza vaccines in
collaboration with scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, the
National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada,
and the NIH’s Vaccine Research Center. Other partners and collaborators
include Merck, Tripep, University of Southampton, National Cancer
Institute, and HIV Vaccines Trial Network. More information is available
at www.inovio.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
relating to, among other things, our plans to develop
electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA
vaccines. Actual events or results may differ from the expectations set
forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including uncertainties
inherent in clinical trials and product development programs, including
but not limited to the fact that pre-clinical and clinical results
referenced in this release may not be indicative of results achievable
in other trials or for other indications, that results from one study
may not necessarily be reflected or supported by the results of other
similar studies, that results from an animal study may not be indicative
of results achievable in human studies, that clinical
testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, that the
outcome of any clinical trial is uncertain and failure can occur at any
time during the clinical trial process, and that our electroporation
technology and DNA vaccines may fail to show the desired safety and
efficacy traits in clinical trials; the availability of funding; the
ability to manufacture vaccine candidates; the availability or potential
availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions
targeted by us or our collaborators, including alternatives that may be
more efficacious or cost-effective than any therapy or treatment that we
and our collaborators hope to develop; whether our proprietary rights
are enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on
rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity; the impact of
government healthcare proposals and other factors set forth in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, our
Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2009, and other
regulatory filings from time to time. There can be no assurance that any
product in Inovio’s pipeline will be successfully developed or
manufactured, that final results of clinical studies will be supportive
of regulatory approvals required to market licensed products, or that
any of the forward-looking information provided herein will be proven
accurate.
Contacts
Investors:
Inovio Biomedical
Bernie Hertel, 858-410-3101
or
Media:
Richardson
& Associates
Jeff Richardson, 805-491-8313