Inovio and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) signed an initial agreement in March 2007. The parties have now extended this agreement by three years. As part of this new agreement, Inovio will provide IAVI with additional proprietary electroporation devices to conduct preclinical research on HIV genes and vaccine candidates.
Inovio’s electroporation delivery technology is intended to enhance the potency of DNA vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases by increasing the cellular uptake of an agent by 1,000 times or more.
This technology also has the potential to induce significant antibody and T-cell immune responses, both of which scientists believe will be critical to developing a preventive HIV vaccine.
Avtar Dhillon, president and CEO of Inovio, said: “IAVI is one of the foremost HIV vaccine development organizations in the world. IAVI’s desire to extend and expand our relationship suggests that HIV vaccine development may benefit from the use of our electroporation technology.”