Inovio touts results of preclinical swine flu vax test

San Diego-based Inovio BioMedical is touting the results of a new animal study for its DNA swine flu vaccine. A double-dose of the vaccine triggered protective antibody responses in 100 percent of the pigs tested. The data was presented at the Annual Conference of DNA Vaccines in Asia 2009 held in Beijing. And researchers are studying the vaccine's ability to protect against other types of H1N1 viruses as well.

"Our innovative SynCon technology has the potential to protect people from influenza strains not exactly like the ones that make up the existing vaccines," says CEO Dr. Joseph Kim. "This is a clear advantage for our universal flu program over conventional influenza vaccines. We are pleased to report our H1N1 preclinical results using pigs, a more natural model for the current influenza pandemic. We look forward to advancing our SynCon universal flu vaccine program toward clinical investigation."

Inovio says it can rapidly formulate universal DNA vaccines that can potentially target multiple strains. "The resulting vaccine could target seasonal as well as pandemic-potential influenza strains such as avian influenza and swine flu, which has already been designated pandemic status," the company reports.

- check out Inovio's release

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