Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a developer of electroporation-based DNA vaccine delivery technology, and VGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held DNA vaccine developer, announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement, which provides for the issuance of Inovio Biomedical securities in exchange for all of the outstanding securities of VGX Pharmaceuticals. Each company’s board of directors has approved the merger agreement and the all-stock transaction it contemplates. The parties expect to complete the merger in the fourth quarter of 2008, however, the actual timing of the transaction will depend on a number of factors, some of which are beyond either company’s control. Upon closing, Inovio Biomedical will change its name to VGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Avtar Dhillon, MD, President and CEO of Inovio Biomedical, said: "Inovio Biomedical, in collaboration with our research partners, has successfully demonstrated safety, tolerability, and immunological and clinical responses from electroporation-delivered DNA vaccines in humans. While we are pleased with our accomplishments and opportunities, we also believe the best path to maximizing value for our stockholders requires us to develop proprietary DNA vaccines. To that end, merging with VGX Pharmaceuticals immediately adds a broad pipeline of DNA vaccine candidates and a team of internationally-recognized scientists with strong DNA vaccine expertise, which we believe will provide the combined company with the capability to rapidly advance DNA vaccine candidates into the clinic. We are pleased to join forces with the VGX team led by Dr. J. Joseph Kim and to become closely associated with Dr. David Weiner, a VGX co-founder known around the world as a pioneer of DNA vaccines.
"We are highly confident that the combined company will advance the potential of developing and delivering new DNA vaccines that could play a significant role in treating or even preventing diseases. Leadership of both companies could not forego this medical and market opportunity," said Dr. Dhillon.
J. Joseph Kim, Ph.D., co-founder, president and CEO of VGX Pharmaceuticals, said: “Significant, growing evidence indicates that electroporation has a pivotal role to play in enabling the potency of this promising new generation of vaccines and VGX has already made a strong commitment to this DNA delivery technology. Inovio has made tremendous strides in validating electroporation-based DNA vaccine delivery with human data in the last year, and we believe that Inovio’s patents and technology platform, partnerships, and clinical programs will provide synergy with VGX's vaccine development focus and asset base. We look forward to the integration process, working cooperatively with Inovio’s management, research and engineering teams, and combining our intellectual property to aggressively pursue the compelling concept of harnessing the body’s immune system to tackle cancers and poorly treated infectious diseases.”
Release date: July 7, 2008
Source: Inovio Biomedical Corp.
