Inovio Develops Novel H3N2 Influenza DNA Vaccine That Generates Cross-Reactive Responses and Provides Complete Protection Against Lethal Preclinical Challenges

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO) announced that its SynCon vaccine approach using a collection of DNA antigens generated broadly protective antibody responses against the most deadly strains of the H3N2 influenza viruses from the past 50 years and provided complete protection against heterologous lethal challenge in a preclinical study.

As quoted in the press release:

Study results were published online in the journal, Human Gene Therapy, in an article by Inovio and its collaborators entitled, “A Synthetic Micro-Consensus DNA Vaccine Generates Comprehensive Influenza-A H3N2 Immunity and Protects Mice Against Lethal Challenge by Multiple H3N2 Viruses.” This work was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Inovio is currently in discussions with third-party funders to support further development of the company’s technology with its advantages in promoting global human health.

Throughout the 2017-18 flu season the commercially available H3N2 vaccine efficacy was reported low due to the mismatch between the vaccine and circulating H3N2 viruses. In some populations the vaccine showed only 13% effectiveness, which contributed to a much greater rate of pneumonia and flu-related deaths. In a pursuit of overcoming the antigenic diversity of H3N2 viruses, Inovio developed a collection of H3HA DNA antigens and demonstrated broad, functional antibody responses against H3 viruses in mice. Vaccination was also capable of inducing robust CD4 and CD8 T cell responses, which are reported to be critical for prevention of disease in the elderly population. Additionally, all (100%) vaccinated mice survived when infected with 10 times of the lethal viral doses from two of the H3N2 virus which circulated during the 1968 and 1982 outbreaks, highlighting the strong protection afforded by Inovio’s H3HA vaccine.

Click here to read the full press release.