Under the terms of the agreement, Inovio will receive from Wyeth a $4.5 million upfront license fee, annual license maintenance fees, research support, and up to $60 million in payments. Inovio would exclusively supply Wyeth with electroporation devices for the vaccines included in the license agreement and would receive royalties on the sale of products covered by the license.
“We are pleased to add Wyeth to the list of corporate partners using our enabling MedPulser DNA Delivery System to develop DNA vaccines for the treatment of debilitating diseases caused by a variety of viruses,” stated Avtar Dhillon, CEO of Inovio.
DNA vaccines have the potential to by-pass numerous problems of conventional vaccines. For example, DNA vaccines may be better in stimulating cellular immunity necessary to fight chronic infection or diseases such as cancer. Despite this, vaccination using DNA plasmids alone without enhanced delivery has not been shown to reach the threshold for clinical benefit.