BLUE BELL, Pa., Sep 29, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex: INO), a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that Dr. Joseph Kim, President & CEO, has been named Life Sciences CEO of the Year by the Philadelphia Business Journal as part of the Journal's inauguralLife Sciences Awards, a new program recognizing the region's "medical miracle makers for their innovative approaches to improving the delivery of health care."
Dr. Kim became the CEO of Inovio Pharmaceuticals in June 2009 upon the completion of its merger with VGX Pharmaceuticals, a company he co-founded. Previously, Dr. Kim led efforts at Merck & Co in manufacturing and process development of several FDA-approved products for hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. He co-founded VGX in December 2000 as a start-up based on technology licensed from the University of Pennsylvania and was VGX's CEO. In a span of less than 10 years, Dr. Kim has guided the advancement of a new type of vaccine, called a DNA vaccine, from early research into human clinical trials -- including vaccines for cancer, HIV, and influenza.
Inovio also received two other Philadelphia Business Journal Life Sciences Awards:
- Best Local Research-Based Company:
Honoring a company based on research originally conducted at a Philadelphia area academic or medical institution or pharmaceutical company.
- Best Incubator Graduate:
Granted to a company that has successfully graduated from a regional incubator and is now operating independently. (VGX Pharmaceuticals began as a start-up vaccine development company in Philadelphia's University City Science Center Incubator.)
Dr. Kim said, "These awards recognize the efforts of everyone at Inovio and our collaborators whose passion, creativity and determination has led to early stage success for our DNA vaccines that hold the promise to treat and prevent HIV, seasonal and pandemic influenza, and cervical cancer, along with other challenging diseases. While we are proud of our accomplishments to date, we look forward to reaching our goal -- to protect and treat people with a new generation of vaccines."
An independent panel of judges from leading universities in the state selected the finalists. The judges were: Michael Cleare, associate vice provost for research and executive director of the Center for Technology Transfer at the University of Pennsylvania; Marc Malandro, associate vice chancellor for technology management and commercialization at the University of Pittsburgh; and John R. Taylor, industrial liaison for the corporate life science programs at Lehigh University.
About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Inovio is developing a new generation of vaccines, called DNA vaccines, to treat and prevent cancers and infectious diseases. These SynCon(TM) vaccines are designed to provide broad cross-strain protection against known as well as newly emergent strains of pathogens such as influenza. These vaccines, in combination with Inovio's proprietary electroporation delivery devices, have been shown to be safe and generate significant immune responses. Inovio's clinical programs include HPV/cervical dysplasia and cancer (therapeutic), avian flu (preventive), and HIV vaccines (both preventive and therapeutic). Inovio is developing universal influenza and other vaccines in collaboration with scientists from the University of Pennsylvania. Other partners and collaborators include Merck, National Cancer Institute, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada, and PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. More information is available at www.inovio.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA vaccines and our capital resources. Actual events or results may differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies, 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 the studies or trials may not be successful or achieve the results desired, that results from one study may not necessarily be reflected or supported by the results of other similar studies and that results from an animal study may not be indicative of results achievable in human studies), the availability of funding to support continuing research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA vaccines, the adequacy of our capital resources, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions targeted by the company or its collaborators, including alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost-effective than any therapy or treatment that the company and its collaborators hope to develop, evaluation of potential opportunities, issues involving product liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide the company with meaningful protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether the company can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments of the company's technology by potential corporate or other partners or collaborators, capital market conditions, our ability to successfully integrate Inovio and VGX Pharmaceuticals, 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, 2009, our Form 10-Q for the six months ended June 30, 2010, 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.
SOURCE: Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.