H5N1
Inovio Biomedical announced March 3 that it got the go-ahead to begin human trials of a preventive vaccine for H5N1 avian flu in Korea.
The San Diego company said it would conduct the 30-patient, three-dose trial together with its Korean affiliate VGX International for Inovio’s SynCon preventive DNA vaccine (VGX-3400) targeting H5N1 avian influenza.
The company, which said it plans a parallel study in the United States to begin later this year, is working toward a “universal” vaccine that would work against a broad set of influenza subtypes.
Inovio’s scientists, using its SynCon process, have designed DNA vaccines targeting an optimal consensus of HA, NA and NP proteins derived from multiple strains of the sub-types H1N1, H2N2, H3N2 and H5N1.
