Inovio Pharma gets green signal to test Zika vaccine in human trial (updated)
20/06/2016 12:40
(Adds details, background)
June 20 (Reuters) - Drug developer Inovio Pharmaceuticals
Inc INO.O and its partner GeneOne Life Sciences Inc
011000.KS said they had received approval from U.S. regulators
to start an early stage human trial testing their Zika vaccine.
The early-stage study will enroll 40 healthy subjects and
evaluate safety, tolerability and immune response generated by
the vaccine GLS-5700.
"We plan to dose our first subjects in the next weeks and
expect to report phase I interim results later this year,"
Inovio CEO J Joseph Kim said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNXMWJXWa
In February, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared
Zika a global public health emergency. The virus has been
associated with microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by an
unusually small head and potential developmental problems.
Last week, U.S. health officials reported three babies born
with birth defects likely linked to Zika infection in the mother
during pregnancy. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1981VV
French drugmaker Sanofi SA SASY.PA is likely to begin
testing its own vaccine in humans next year.
India's Bharat Biotech is another company that is in the
race to develop a vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease.
(Reporting by Amrutha Penumudi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta)
((penumudi.amrutha@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223
8780 outside U.S. +91 80 6749 4486; Reuters Messaging:
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Keywords: HEALTH ZIKA/INOVIO PHARMA