PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.,
March 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/
-- INOVIO (NASDAQ:INO), a biotechnology company focused on
bringing to market precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and
protect people from infectious diseases and cancer, today announced
the appointment of Michael Cordera
as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Mr. Cordera will
serve on the company's executive leadership team and will report to
INOVIO's President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. J. Joseph Kim. In this role, he will be
responsible for the company's legal team and strategy.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, INOVIO's
President and CEO, said, "Michael is a seasoned legal executive
with deep life sciences experience both in the US and abroad. His
expertise surrounding commercial operations and global business
development come at a key time for our organization. He will be a
valuable leader as INOVIO executes on its plans to develop and
commercialize DNA medicines to treat infectious diseases, cancer,
and HPV-associated diseases."
Mr. Cordera joins INOVIO from Eagle Pharmaceuticals, where he
served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Before
Eagle, Michael held various legal positions of increasing
responsibility at Warner Chilcot and inVentiv (now Syneos) Health
where he was responsible for legal affairs in North America, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Cordera began his legal career as an
Associate at Sherman & Sterling, LLP. He holds a J.D. from the
Rutgers School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
American University of Paris.
About INOVIO's DNA Medicines Platform
INOVIO has 15 DNA medicine clinical programs currently in
development focused on HPV-associated diseases, cancer, and
infectious diseases, including coronaviruses associated with
COVID-19 and MERS, for which programs are being developed with
funding support from the U.S. Department of Defense and the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). DNA
medicines are composed of optimized DNA plasmids, which are small
circles of double-stranded DNA that are synthesized or reorganized
by a computer sequencing technology and designed to produce a
specific immune response in the body.
INOVIO's DNA medicines deliver optimized plasmids directly into
cells intramuscularly or intradermally using INOVIO's proprietary
hand-held smart device called CELLECTRA®. The
CELLECTRA® device uses a brief electrical pulse to
reversibly open small pores in the cell to allow the plasmids to
enter, overcoming a key limitation of other DNA and other nucleic
acid approaches, such as mRNA. Once inside the cell, the DNA
plasmids enable the cell to produce the targeted antigen. The
antigen is processed naturally in the cell and triggers the desired
T cell and antibody-mediated immune responses. Administration with
the CELLECTRA® device is designed to ensure that
the DNA medicine is efficiently delivered directly into the body's
cells, where it can go to work to drive an immune response.
INOVIO's DNA medicines do not interfere with or change in any way
an individual's own DNA. The advantages of INOVIO's DNA medicine
platform are how fast DNA medicines can be designed and
manufactured; the stability of the products, which do not require
freezing in storage and transport; and the robust immune response,
safety profile, and tolerability that have been observed in
clinical trials.
With more than 3,000 patients receiving INOVIO investigational
DNA medicines in more than 7,000 applications across a range of
clinical trials, INOVIO has a strong track record of rapidly
generating DNA medicine candidates with potential to meet urgent
global health needs.
About INOVIO
INOVIO is a biotechnology company focused on rapidly bringing to
market precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people
from infectious diseases, cancer, and diseases associated with HPV.
INOVIO is the first and only company to have clinically
demonstrated that a DNA medicine can be delivered directly into
cells in the body via a proprietary smart device to produce a
robust and tolerable immune response. INOVIO's lead immunotherapy
candidate, VGX-3100, currently in Phase 3 trials for precancerous
cervical dysplasia, cleared high-risk HPV-16 and/or HPV-18 in a
Phase 2b clinical trial. High-risk
HPV is responsible for 70% of cervical cancer, 91% of anal cancer,
and 69% of vulvar cancer. Also in development are programs
targeting HPV-related cancers and a rare HPV-related disease,
recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP); non-HPV-related cancers
glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and prostate cancer; as well as
infectious disease DNA vaccine development programs in
coronaviruses associated with COVID-19 diseases and MERS, Lassa
fever, Ebola, and HIV. Partners and collaborators include
Advaccine, ApolloBio Corporation, AstraZeneca, The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations (CEPI), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA)/Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological,
Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND)/Department of Defense
(DoD), HIV Vaccines Trial Network, International Vaccine Institute
(IVI), Kaneka Eurogentec, Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC),
National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Ology Bioservices,
the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Plumbline Life
Sciences, Regeneron, Richter-Helm BioLogics, Thermo Fisher
Scientific, University of Pennsylvania,
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and The Wistar Institute.
INOVIO also is a proud recipient of 2020 Women on Boards "W"
designation recognizing companies with more than 20% women on their
board of directors. For more information,
visit www.inovio.com.
CONTACTS:
Media: Jeff Richardson,
267-440-4211, jrichardson@inovio.com
Investors: Ben Matone, 484-362-0076,
ben.matone@inovio.com
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
relating to our business, including our plans to develop and
commercialize DNA medicines. There can be no assurance that any
product candidate in our pipeline will be successfully developed,
manufactured or commercialized, that final results of clinical
trials will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to
market products, or that any of the forward-looking information
provided herein will be proven accurate. Forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no
obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be
required by law.
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SOURCE INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.