Thanks in part to another $1.3 million of funding granted by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an agreement between INOVIO and Richter-Helm BioLogics will expand to support large-scale manufacturing of investigational COVID-19 vaccine INO-4800.
INOVIO originally made the investigational DNA vaccine. It is currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical testing in the United States, and the company hopes to see it reach Phase 2 and 3 efficacy trials this summer. INOVIO and Richter-Helm have been working together since 2014, though, and CEPI has been a significant supporter of INO-4800 along the way — the latest investment bringing the organization’s total financial support up to $17.2 million.
“We are grateful to CEPI for its continued generous funding and pleased to expand our work with Richter-Helm BioLogics to support large-scale manufacturing capacity for INO-4800,” INOVIO President & CEO J. Joseph Kim said. “Richter-Helm has deep experience working with our optimized DNA plasmids, which are the building blocks of our DNA vaccines, and have consistently produced DNA medicines of the highest quality under stringent GMP standards.”
By the end of 2020, INOVIO intends to produce one million doses of INO-4800. Richter-Helm offers the capability to largely expand the manufacturing of the vaccine candidate by transferring and rapidly scaling the current production process for INO-4800.
“Richter-Helm BioLogics has a strong, long-standing relationship with INOVIO and is a leading manufacturer of DNA plasmids,” Richter-Helm BioLogics Managing Director Kai Pohlmeyer said. “We will mobilize all our resources to ensure sufficient supply of late-stage clinical and commercial batches of INO-4800 and contribute to the fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.”