Inovio Pharmaceuticals CEO Receives 2013 Drug Discovery & Achievement Award

BLUE BELL, Pa., Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: INO) announced today that its President & CEO, Dr. J. Joseph Kim, has been selected to receive the 2013 Achievement in Drug Discovery and Development Award from the Korean American Society in Biotech and Pharmaceuticals ("KASBP"). The Society aims to contribute to the growth of drug discovery and development through collaborations and information exchanges between U.S. and Korean pharmaceutical companies and research centers.

The award, sponsored by Daewoong Pharmaceuticals Inc., the leading Korean pharmaceutical company, recognizes Dr. Kim as one of the leaders in moving the field of DNA vaccines from theory to application and development. Dr. Kim founded VGX Pharmaceuticals, which through acquisition became Inovio, and is the leading biotech company advancing DNA vaccines toward commercialization. Inovio is revolutionizing vaccines and immunotherapies to prevent and treat cancers and challenging infectious diseases with products in Phase II development.

Jae-Hun Kim, Ph.D. of Merck Research Laboratories, the current KASBP President, said, "We are very pleased to present the award to Dr. Joseph Kim. The award committee recognized Dr. Kim's significant achievement for invention and development of the technology as a scientist and as a businessman."

Dr. J. Joseph Kim, President & CEO of Inovio Pharmaceuticals said, "This honor recognizes the work of countless scientists who, like me, have pursued the potential of DNA vaccines because we understand the paradigm-changing contribution that DNA vaccines will make to human health. At Inovio, we've shown clinical results that no other organization can match in generating T cells. We believe this technology will change the practice of medicine in treating cancer, HIV, hepatitis, malaria and other infectious diseases. I thank KASBP for this award and for their tireless work in building a bridge between the U.S. and Korea with a goal to advance drug discovery and development."

About the Korean American Society in Biotech and Pharmaceuticals ("KASBP")

The Korean American Society in Biotech and Pharmaceuticals ("KASBP") is a non-profit organization founded in May 2001. The current members include Korean-American professionals working throughout the U.S., mostly in the Biotech or Pharmaceutical field. The member profile includes not only professionals working in 100 pharmaceutical industries (BMS, Novartis, GSK, Merck, Sanofi, J&J, Pfizer, etc.), but also scientists in academics serving universities as faculty members, researchers, post-docs, or graduate students; as well as government employees in the FDA, NIH, and other local and federal government organizations. 

KASBP aims to promote scientific recognitions in the community, especially for drug discovery and development. KASBP's activities include annual symposiums to contribute to the advancement of drug discovery, development and other pharmaceutical technology in Korean and U.S. companies.  Through a collaboration and networking among the members in Biotech companies, pharmaceutical companies and government funded research centers; KASBP has been helping new drug discovery, technology transfer, drug development and commercialization by Korean companies in Korea and in the U.S markets. One important goal of KASBP is to identify and nurture young Korean-American researchers to become future leaders for Biotech and Pharmaceutical industries in Korea and the U.S. by awarding scholarships.

About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Inovio is revolutionizing vaccines to prevent and treat today's cancers and challenging infectious diseases. Its SynCon® vaccines, in combination with its proprietary electroporation delivery, are generating best-in-class immune responses, with therapeutic T-cell responses exceeding other technologies in terms of magnitude, breadth, and response rate. Human data to date have shown a favorable safety profile. Inovio's lead vaccine, a therapeutic against HPV-caused pre-cancers and cancers, is in phase II. Other phase I and preclinical programs target prostate, breast, and lung cancers as well as HIV, influenza, malaria and hepatitis. Partners and collaborators include Roche, the University of Pennsylvania, Merck, NIH, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, National Cancer Institute, U.S. Military HIV Research Program, University of Southampton, US Dept. of Homeland Security, University of Manitoba and PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. More information is available at www.inovio.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA vaccines and our capital resources. Actual events or results may differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies, clinical trials and product development programs (including, but not limited to, the fact that pre-clinical and clinical results referenced in this release may not be indicative of results achievable in other trials or for other indications, that the studies or trials may not be successful or achieve the results desired, that pre-clinical studies and clinical trials may not commence or be completed in the time periods anticipated, that results from one study may not necessarily be reflected or supported by the results of other similar studies and that results from an animal study may not be indicative of results achievable in human studies), the availability of funding to support continuing research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA vaccines, the adequacy of our capital resources, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions targeted by the company or its collaborators, including alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost-effective than any therapy or treatment that the company and its collaborators hope to develop, evaluation of potential opportunities, issues involving product liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide the company with meaningful protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether the company can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments of the company's technology by potential corporate or other partners or collaborators, capital market conditions, the impact of government healthcare proposals and other factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, and other regulatory filings from time to time. There can be no assurance that any product in Inovio's pipeline will be successfully developed or manufactured, that final results of clinical studies will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market licensed products, or that any of the forward-looking information provided herein will be proven accurate.

CONTACTS:
Investors: Bernie Hertel, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, 858-410-3101 [email protected] 
Media: Jeff Richardson, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, 267-440-4211, [email protected]

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SOURCE Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.