LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - US pharmaceutical firm Inovio has received a $5m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in order to accelerate the testing and scale-up of CELLECTRA 3PSP, a proprietary smart device used for the intradermal delivery of its coronavirus DNA vaccine.
Inovio has been undertaking preclinical studies on its COVID-19 vaccine, INO-4800, which was planned to advance into Phase 1 clinical trials in the US next month, with up to $9m in funding from CEPI.

The group said it plans to accelerate the testing and scale-up of the CELLECTRA 3PSP devices in order to support "large scale manufacturing" of INO-4800, with roughly one million doses of the vaccine expected to be delivered by the end of 2020.

Chief executive Dr Joseph Kim said" "INOVIO is grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their continued investment in INOVIO's DNA medicines platform and for their support for DNA vaccines to potentially protect those at risk globally given the current COVID-19 outbreak.

"Our team of vaccine experts are working around the clock to advance INO-4800 and we look forward to attracting additional partnerships to expedite its development to meet this urgent global health need."

As of 1335 GMT, Inovio shares had shot up 41.70% to $11.86 each.

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