2006 NOV 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Inovio Biomedical Corp. (INO), a company engaged in the development of DNA vaccines using electroporation-based DNA delivery, announced that its partner, Tripep, AB, of Sweden, recently demonstrated that Tripep's proprietary DNA vaccine, ChronVac-C, administered using Inovio's MedPulser DNA Drug Delivery System, activated a T-cell response in mice that appears capable of clearing liver cells expressing hepatitis C virus protein in a murine model of hepatitis C.

In the current study a comparison with the gene gun delivery method also indicated the MedPulser gene delivery system performed as well as or better than the gene gun in inducing immune responses capable of clearing liver cells expressing hepatitis C virus proteins. These data complement the results of previous studies demonstrating electroporation using the MedPulser gene delivery system was as good as or better than the gene gun in inducing humoral immune responses in mice.

These data were obtained in support of a planned application for a clinical trial designed to test the therapeutic use of the combination of the ChronVac-C DNA vaccine and Inovio's MedPulser gene delivery system in chronic hepatitis C infections. Tripep intends to conduct this phase I clinical study with healthy volunteers in Sweden in the first half of 2007.

DNA vaccines have the potential to bypass the numerous problems that plague 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 promise, vaccination using DNA plasmids alone, without enhanced delivery, has not been shown to reach the threshold for clinical benefit.

Intramuscular delivery of DNA vaccines using Inovio's proprietary electroporation technology has been shown in primate studies to boost the immune response by orders of magnitude over DNA plasmid alone.

Tripep, AB, is a Swedish biotechnology research company. Inovio Biomedical Corp. is a late-stage biomedical company focused on a cancer ablation therapy and development of multiple DNA vaccines.