Inovio Pharmaceuticals Recognized With "Best Therapeutic Vaccine" and "Best Early Stage Biotech" Awards at World Vaccine Congress 2013

BLUE BELL, Pa., April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: INO) today announced that it was presented Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Awards for "Best Therapeutic Vaccine" and "Best Early Stage Biotech" at the World Vaccine Congress, which is being held this week in Washington, D.C. The ViE Awards recognize outstanding vaccine advancements and achievements of vaccine developers across the global industry as judged by a panel of global biotech industry stakeholders.

The "Best Therapeutic Vaccine" award recognized Inovio's DNA vaccine designed to treat HPV-caused cervical dysplasia, VGX-3100. In human studies this therapeutic vaccine has demonstrated that it not only drives robust immune responses to antigens from high risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection but that these immune responses display a powerful killing effect against cells changed by HPV into precancerous dysplasias. This desirable effect may ultimately contribute to the regression or elimination of cervical dysplasia, cervical cancer, and other cancers caused by HPV. These data have been published in the peer-reviewed journal, Science-Translational Medicine. Inovio is currently assessing the ability of its DNA-based VGX-3100 to treat cervical dysplasias caused by HPV infection in a global phase II trial, with results expected in the first quarter of 2014.

The "Best Early Stage Biotech" award highlights Inovio's pioneering advancement of its proprietary SynCon® DNA vaccine and electroporation delivery technologies. Its expanding product pipeline includes clinical programs for HPV-caused dysplasia and cancers, influenza, and HIV, and preclinical programs for hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B virus, prostate cancer, malaria, and other challenging chronic infectious diseases. With its goal of "revolutionizing vaccines," Inovio is a leader in advancing the technology of synthetic DNA vaccines; it has achieved best-in-class T-cell responses, which are considered vital to treating cancers and infectious diseases, with its cervical dysplasia and HIV vaccines; and it has achieved the first human data showing the potential of a next-generation vaccine to provide protective immune responses against multiple strains of a virus that are not specifically matched to the DNA sequences represented in the vaccine.

Dr. J. Joseph Kim, President and CEO, said, "We greatly appreciate the World Vaccine Congress' recognition of Inovio's leadership and innovation in advancing what we hope and expect to become a vital new generation of immune-system-stimulating technology: DNA vaccines. We also appreciate the specific acknowledgement of the accomplishments of VGX-3100 and its potential to become an important new approach for treating diseases caused by HPV. We look forward to the next stages of this exciting journey to revolutionize vaccines."

About the ViE Awards
The World Vaccine Congress & Expo, now in its 13th year, is the largest and most comprehensive event in the industry. Covering everything from the latest R&D to manufacturing to corporate development strategies, the Congress hosts the only awards ceremony dedicated to the vaccine industry. The ViE Awards honor individuals, organizations and initiatives which have made significant contributions over the past 12 months to innovation in the field of vaccines.

About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Inovio is revolutionizing vaccines to prevent and treat today's cancers and challenging infectious diseases. Its SynCon® vaccines are designed to provide universal protection against known as well as new unmatched strains of pathogens such as influenza. These synthetic vaccines, in combination with Inovio's proprietary electroporation delivery, have been shown in humans to generate best-in-class immune responses with a favorable safety profile. Inovio's clinical programs include phase II studies for cervical dysplasia, leukemia and hepatitis C virus and phase I studies for influenza and HIV. Partners and collaborators include the University of Pennsylvania, Merck, ChronTech, National Cancer Institute, U.S. Military HIV Research Program, NIH, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, University of Southampton, US Dept. of Homeland Security, University of Manitoba and PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. More information is available at www.inovio.com.

CONTACTS:
Investors: Bernie Hertel, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, 858-410-3101, [email protected]
Media: Jeff Richardson, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, 267-440-4211, [email protected]

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA vaccines and our capital resources. Actual events or results may differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies, clinical trials and product development programs (including, but not limited to, the fact that pre-clinical and clinical results referenced in this release may not be indicative of results achievable in other trials or for other indications, that the studies or trials may not be successful or achieve the results desired, that pre-clinical studies and clinical trials may not commence or be completed in the time periods anticipated, that results from one study may not necessarily be reflected or supported by the results of other similar studies and that results from an animal study may not be indicative of results achievable in human studies), the availability of funding to support continuing research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA vaccines, the adequacy of our capital resources, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions targeted by the company or its collaborators, including alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost-effective than any therapy or treatment that the company and its collaborators hope to develop, evaluation of potential opportunities, issues involving product liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide the company with meaningful protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether the company can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments of the company's technology by potential corporate or other partners or collaborators, capital market conditions, the impact of government healthcare proposals and other factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, and other regulatory filings from time to time. There can be no assurance that any product in Inovio's pipeline will be successfully developed or manufactured, that final results of clinical studies will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market licensed products, or that any of the forward-looking information provided herein will be proven accurate.

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SOURCE Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc.