Inovio: the dMAB tech - 'would be basis for another company.'

visceraljunket • May 21, 2015 10:29 AM

                   

EXCERPTS FROM THE MAY 11 CONFERENCE CALL To help us all be better informed, I am going to focus on specific aspects of the May 11 conference call. I hope it will stimulate discussion and help those here (myself included) who struggle to wrap there heads around all that is Inovio.I will start with:

"Ebola and our DNA based monoclonal antibody application."
In a half year period we have secured with our collaborators, including MedImmune, two awards from DARPA:
one for $12 million in October of last year , the other fo5 $45 million this quarter.
Under the $45 million Ebola grant, the Inovio led consortium is taking a multi-faceted approach to develop products to prevent and treat Ebola infection. Inovio is the only pharma company that DARPA has relied on to develop BOTH a preventive vaccine and a treatment for those infected. This project incorporates Inovio's DNA based vaccine against Ebola, with the first patient expected to be dosed this quarter. It also involves a highly potent conventional protein based therapeutic monoclonal antibody product against Ebola.
What is exciting is that this award also funds the development of a therapeutic DNA based monoclonal antibody product, or dMAb, against Ebola. This Inovio innovation enables expedient design and manufacturing, using proven fermentation technology, and may provide more rapid therapeutic benefit.
DARPA also awarded us $12 million last October to develop dMAbs against influenza and antibiotic resistant bacteria.
We believe our dMAb technology has tremendous potential advantages relative to existing conventional monoclonal antibody products as well as for diseases for which monoclonal antibodies could not be developed
currently
. This technology could by itself serve as the foundation for a biotech company. We are pleased to have resources and programs to advance this technology."

Just a little bit more concerning dMab technology from Inovio-"Inovio has overcome many of the limitations associated with mAb technology. With Inovio's technology, the DNA for a monoclonal antibody is encoded in a DNA plasmid and delivered directly into cells of the body using electroporation, causing the mAbs to be "manufactured" in the body by these cells – not outside of the body like conventional mAb technology.