Inovio Biomedical Receives Additional Milestone Payment from Merck Relating to Electroporation Delivery System for DNA Vaccines

Inovio Biomedical Corporation has announced that it will receive a $2 million milestone payment from Merck & Co., Inc. resulting from the filing of a second Investigational New Drug application to the US Food & Drug Administration by Merck for a DNA-based vaccine using Inovio's MedPulser® DNA Delivery System.

The milestone relates to Inovio's collaboration and license with Merck initiated in May 2004 for the development of certain DNA vaccines. Further development of the product may lead to additional milestone payments and royalties to Inovio.

Inovio will receive this milestone payment for its contribution to the collaboration, which has so far demonstrated the high level of gene delivery and expression that is thought to be necessary for the induction of a therapeutic immune response. Merck has funded all clinical development costs of this candidate to date.

"This is the second investigational DNA-based vaccine that Merck has advanced into clinical studies using Inovio's proprietary electroporation delivery technology," said Avtar Dhillon, MD, Inovio's president and CEO. "Achievement of this milestone demonstrates Inovio's ability to collaborate with large pharma partners to add value to their DNA-based vaccine programs."