Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, has signed a collaboration agreement with Transgene S A and ChronTech Pharma AB to evaluate a novel therapeutic vaccination strategy against genotype 1 Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in a phase I clinical study.
In this collaboration, the strategy is to use different prime and boost vaccines with the goal of obtaining a clinical effect by inducing different immuneresponses. A phase I study, to be started later this year, will use ChronTech's ChronVac-C® plasmid DNA vaccine delivered by in vivo electroporation using Inovio's Medpulser® DDS as the prime and Transgene's therapeutic vaccine TG4040, a Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), as the boost. In the planned phase I clinical study, each company will contribute their respective products and equally share study-related costs. The study will enroll 12 treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis C at a site in Germany.
Dr J Joseph Kim, President and CEO, Inovio, said, "We look forward
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