Kaneka Eurogentec will manufacture INOVIO’s DNA vaccine candidate against COVID-19

INOVIO has assembled a global coalition of collaborators, partners and funders to rapidly advance the development of INO-4800, a DNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

INOVIO’s President & CEO, Dr. J. Joseph Kim, said, “Our partnership with Kaneka Eurogentec, one of the world’s largest and most experienced plasmid manufacturers, provides additional scale to our growing global manufacturing coalition. Kaneka Eurogentec will be a crucial member of INOVIO’s global manufacturing consortium, supporting our plans to produce, manufacture and scale our COVID-19 candidate, INO-4800.”

Dr. Lieven Janssens, Kaneka Eurogentec’s President and CEO, said, “We are excited to join INOVIO’s growing global manufacturing consortium and look forward to supporting the manufacturing needs of DNA medicines and vaccines across INOVIO’s platform. We are pleased that our large-scale manufacturing technologies are well recognized by INOVIO, a leading player in the DNA plasmid field.”

We will manufacture large quantity of DNA vaccine against COVID-19

KANEKA EUROGENTEC is considered as the world leader in Kg-scale biomanufacturing of GMP DNA plasmid for gene and cell therapies. DNA plasmid is the active pharmaceutical ingredient of DNA vaccines, as well as the key starting material of mRNA, new generations of vaccines.

INOVIO’s Senior Vice President of Biological Manufacturing and Clinical Supply Management, Robert J. Juba Jr., said, “Kaneka Eurogentec brings a wealth of DNA plasmid manufacturing expertise and innovation to INOVIO’s global consortium to manufacture INO-4800. We look forward to working with them to utilize their state-of-the-art, large-scale manufacturing capabilities towards our goal of producing hundreds of millions of doses of INO-4800 for worldwide distribution.”

We will manufacture INO-4800 – DNA vaccine in our new state-of-the-art GMP facilities. These contain a brand new 2200 L fermentor to achieve high volumes of vaccine.

Clinical trials in progress

INOVIO is conducting a Phase 2 segment of its planned Phase 2/3 clinical trial for INO-4800, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The planned Phase 2/3 clinical trial, called INNOVATE (Inovio INO-4800 Vaccine Trial for Efficacy), is a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled safety and efficacy trial of INO-4800 to be conducted in adults in the U.S. The INNOVATE trial will be funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

New jobs opportunities will be open. We plan to recruit up to 80 new colleagues to support the production activities related to COVID-19 vaccines.

About INOVIO

INOVIO is a leading company in DNA medicines with 15 DNA medicine clinical programs currently in development focused on HPV-associated diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases, including coronaviruses associated with MERS and COVID-19 diseases.

INOVIO has extensive experience working with coronaviruses and was the first company with a Phase 2 vaccine for a related coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).