By Robb M. Stewart

 

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares jumped Wednesday after the biotechnology company signed up Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. as another manufacturer for its planned Covid-19 vaccine.

In morning trading, Inovio shares were up 20%, to $11.55. They have rallied 250% year-to-date.

Inovio on Tuesday said Thermo Fisher plans to manufacture its DNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate INO-4800, joining other contract development and manufacturing organizations in a global manufacturing consortium, which potentially would allow it to scale production of a vaccine.

The company plans to have 100 million doses of INO-4800 manufactured in 2021, subject to Food and Drug Administration approval for use as a Covid-19 vaccine. Thermo Fisher plans to manufacture INO-4800 drug substance as well as perform fill-and-finish of INO-4800 drug product at its commercial facilities in the U.S. and at peak capacity could produce at least 100 million doses of INO-4800 annually, Inovio said.

Thermo Fisher will join partners Richter-Helm BioLogics and Ology Biosciences in the manufacturing consortium, and Inovio said it is in active discussions with additional manufacturers to join as it prepares to meet global supply needs. Having multiple manufacturers involved in the production of INO-4800 is intended to support timely, cost-effective and scalable production of the DNA-based vaccine, it said, and third-party manufacturers will produce the patent-protected formulation for INO-4800.

Inovio is conducting a Phase 1 clinical trial of INO-4800 in the U.S. and has submitted full trial results for the first 40 subjects for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The company plans to initiate a Phase 2/3 Covid-19 vaccine trials in September, subject to FDA clearance to proceed.

 

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 09, 2020 10:32 ET (14:32 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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