PR89535

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., May 17, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- Dr. Dansey, Seagen's Chief Medical Officer, brings extensive expertise in

immuno-oncology and drug development

-- Appointment of industry leader in drug development expands the Board's

diverse industry, clinical development, research and commercialization

expertise

INOVIO (NASDAQ:INO), a biotechnology company focused on bringing to market

precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people from infectious

diseases, cancer, and HPV-associated diseases, today announced the appointment

of Roger D. Dansey, M.D. to its Board of Directors. The appointment adds

extensive expertise in drug development to the INOVIO Board as the company

strengthens its focus on its late stage product development programs. Currently

the Chief Medical Officer at Seagen (formerly Seattle Genetics), Dr. Dansey has

played a central role in Seagen's efforts to become a globally recognized,

multi--product oncology company.

Dr. Dansey previously served as the Therapeutic Area Head for Late-Stage

Oncology at Merck & Co., Inc., where he oversaw registration efforts for

Keytruda(R) (pembrolizumab) across multiple tumor types. Earlier in his career,

he was the Vice President of Oncology Clinical Research at Gilead Sciences and

the Global Development Lead for Xgeva(R) (denosumab) at Amgen, where he held

multiple roles in both oncology and hematology. Dr. Dansey holds an M.D. from

the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Simon X. Benito, Chairman of INOVIO's Board, said, "We are pleased to welcome

Dr. Dansey to INOVIO's Board of Directors. His impressive efforts at Seagen

coupled with his track record of achievement in cancer drug development at

Merck, Gilead, and Amgen will be invaluable to the organization as the company

evolves its oncology, HPV and vaccine portfolio – including INO-5401, its DNA

medicine for Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) and INO-4800 for COVID-19 – and

prepare for commercialization."

Dr. Dansey said, "I'm pleased to join INOVIO at a pivotal time for the company.

This is the time for DNA medicines. I believe they offer an innovative approach

to fighting cancer. I am looking forward to working with the team and

supporting their mission of rapidly bringing to market life-saving DNA

medicines to meet urgent global health needs in oncology and infectious

diseases."

About INOVIO's DNA Medicines Platform

INOVIO has 15 DNA medicine clinical programs currently in development focused

on HPV-associated diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases, including

coronaviruses associated with MERS and COVID-19 diseases being developed under

grants from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the

U.S. Department of Defense. DNA medicines are composed of optimized DNA

plasmids, which are small circles of double-stranded DNA that are synthesized

or reorganized by a computer sequencing technology and designed to produce a

specific immune response in the body.

INOVIO's DNA medicines deliver optimized plasmids directly into cells

intramuscularly or intradermally using INOVIO's proprietary hand-held smart

device called CELLECTRA(R). The CELLECTRA(R) device uses a brief electrical

pulse to reversibly open small pores in the cell to allow the plasmids to

enter, overcoming a key limitation of other DNA and other nucleic acid

approaches, such as mRNA. Once inside the cell, the DNA plasmids enable the

cell to produce the targeted antigen. The antigen is processed naturally in the

cell and triggers the desired T cell and antibody mediated immune responses.

Administration with the CELLECTRA(R) device ensures that the DNA medicine is

efficiently delivered directly into the body's cells, where it can go to work

to drive an immune response. INOVIO's DNA medicines do not interfere with or

change in any way an individual's own DNA. The advantages of INOVIO's DNA

medicine platform are how fast DNA medicines can be designed and manufactured;

the stability of the products, which do not require freezing in storage and

transport; and the robust immune response, safety profile, and tolerability

that have been observed in clinical trials.

With more than 3,000 patients receiving INOVIO investigational DNA medicines in

more than 7,000 applications across a range of clinical trials, INOVIO has a

strong track record of rapidly generating DNA medicine candidates with

potential to meet urgent global health needs.

About INOVIO

INOVIO is a biotechnology company focused on rapidly bringing to market

precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people from infectious

diseases, cancer, and diseases associated with HPV. INOVIO is the first and

only company to have clinically demonstrated that a DNA medicine can be

delivered directly into cells in the body via a proprietary smart device to

produce a robust and tolerable immune response. Specifically, INOVIO's lead

candidate VGX-3100 is the first DNA medicine to achieve efficacy endpoints in a

Phase 3 clinical trial, REVEAL 1, for the treatment of precancerous cervical

dysplasia caused by HPV-16 and/or HPV-18. VGX-3100 also demonstrated positive

Phase 2 efficacy results in separate trials evaluating the treatment of

precancerous vulvar dysplasia and anal dysplasia. Also in development are

programs targeting HPV-related cancers and a rare HPV-related disease,

recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP); non-HPV-related cancers

glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and prostate cancer; as well as externally funded

infectious disease DNA vaccine development programs in Zika, Lassa fever,

Ebola, HIV, and coronaviruses associated with MERS and COVID-19 diseases.

Partners and collaborators include Advaccine, ApolloBio Corporation,

AstraZeneca, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic

Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(DARPA)/Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological

and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND)/Department of Defense (DoD), HIV Vaccines

Trial Network, International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Kaneka Eurogentec,

Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC), National Cancer Institute, National

Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

Ology Bioservices, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Plumbline

Life Sciences, Regeneron, Richter-Helm BioLogics, Thermo Fisher Scientific,

University of Pennsylvania, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and The

Wistar Institute. INOVIO also is a proud recipient of 2020 Women on Boards "W"

designation recognizing companies with more than 20% women on their board of

directors. For more information, visit www.inovio.com.

CONTACTS:

Media: Jeff Richardson, +1 267-440-4211, jrichardson@inovio.com

Investors: Ben Matone, +1 484-362-0076, ben.matone@inovio.com

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our

business, including our plans to develop and commercialize DNA medicines, our

expectations regarding our research and development programs, including the

planned initiation and conduct of preclinical studies and clinical trials and

the availability and timing of data from those studies and trials, and our

ability to successfully manufacture and produce large quantities of our product

candidates if they receive regulatory approval. 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, product development programs and commercialization activities and

outcomes, our ability to secure sufficient manufacturing capacity to mass

produce our product candidates, 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

medicines, our ability to support our pipeline of DNA medicine products, the

ability of our collaborators to attain development and commercial milestones

for products we license and product sales that will enable us to receive future

payments and royalties, the adequacy of our capital resources, the availability

or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the

conditions targeted by us or collaborators, including alternatives that may be

more efficacious or cost effective than any therapy or treatment that we and

our collaborators hope to develop, issues involving product liability, issues

involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide us 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

we can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to

prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures,

assessments of our 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, 2020, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter

ended March 31, 2021 and other filings we make from time to time with the

Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurance that any product

candidate in our pipeline will be successfully developed, manufactured or

commercialized, that final results of clinical trials will be supportive of

regulatory approvals required to market products, or that any of the

forward-looking information provided herein will be proven accurate.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and we

undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be

required by law.