Monday, August 01, 2016 2:55:36 PM
However, Inovio is much more than a possible Zika vaccine and that is not even the main attraction of owning this small biotech concern that now sports a market capitalization of just under $700 million. First, the company has an extensive pipeline of emerging vaccines that are moving along in development. Second, over 20% of its market capitalization is represented by net cash on its balance sheet. Inovio is well funded for all of its development at least through 2018. This is important given demand for secondary offerings for small biotech concerns has almost completely dried up in the past couple of months, although this has improved some recently. This helped push down the stock prices of most companies that need to raise funding in the foreseeable future.
Inovio has numerous trial milestones in 2016. One of the more intriguing vaccines the company has in its pipeline is its INO-3112 immunotherapy compound. It reached a collaboration deal with larger MedImmune around this focus area in the summer of 2015 which granted Medimmune the exclusive rights to INO-3112 immunotherapy. Inovio received $27.5 million dollars as an upfront payment and will receive performance milestone payments up to $700 million upon reaching development and commercial milestones. In addition, Medimmune will also fund all development costs associated with the study and has agreed to pay Inovio double-digit tiered royalties upon commercialization of INO-3112. Inovio plans to initiate human trials sometime in 2016.
Although most of the company's pipeline consists of early stage or pre-clinical vaccines it does have other partnerships with DARPA, other government agencies and Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY). This speaks to the potential of Inovio's underlying technology which consists of two parts.
First, Inovio's DNA-based immunotherapies are designed to treat and/or prevent diseases. For this they have something called SynCon® DNA plasmid technology. This platform is based on this concept. The company takes the genetic code for a vital element of the immune system or immune response and facilitates significant production of it in the body. This novel approach to synthetically designing the genetic code hopefully will help the body more readily break the body's tolerance of cancerous cells or achieve more universal protection against both existing and newly emerging strains of pathogens. These products are designed to produce multiple disease-specific antigens, cytokines that help kick-start the immune system, and monoclonal antibodies that provide a differentiated immune response to rapidly protect against a target disease. In addition, Inovio's electroporation delivery technology then plays a vital role in activating best-in-class immune responses from these immunotherapy products.
Although years away from a recurring revenue stream, the company will continue to get milestone payments from its development partners as its pipeline moves through trials. In addition, it has strong support due to its potential from the analyst community. 4 Buy ratings have been issued over the last three months by analyst firms including Piper Jaffray and Stifel Nicolaus. Their price targets range from $13 to $31 on this speculative but very promising emerging vaccine play. A stake is worthy of consideration for aggressive investors
Recent INO News
- INOVIO to Present at Upcoming Scientific Conference • PR Newswire (US) • 09/17/2024 08:30:00 PM
- Form 424B5 - Prospectus [Rule 424(b)(5)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 08/13/2024 10:22:02 AM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 08/13/2024 10:06:54 AM
- INOVIO Reports Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results and Recent Business Highlights • PR Newswire (US) • 08/08/2024 08:05:00 PM
- INOVIO Reports Inducement Grant Under Inducement Plan • PR Newswire (US) • 08/01/2024 08:05:00 PM
- Inovio Receives Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product Certificate from European Medicines Agency for Quality and Non-Clinical Data for Lead Candidate INO-3107 • PR Newswire (US) • 07/25/2024 08:05:00 PM
- INOVIO to Report Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results on August 8, 2024 • PR Newswire (US) • 07/25/2024 12:00:00 PM
- INO-3107 Awarded the Innovation Passport Designation Under U.K. Government's Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway • PR Newswire (US) • 07/11/2024 12:00:00 PM
- INOVIO Announces Appointment of Steven Egge as Chief Commercial Officer • PR Newswire (US) • 07/02/2024 08:05:00 PM
- INOVIO Reports Inducement Grant Under Inducement Plan • PR Newswire (US) • 07/01/2024 08:00:00 PM
- INOVIO Added to Russell 2000® Index Effective July 1, 2024 • PR Newswire (US) • 07/01/2024 12:00:00 PM
- INOVIO to Participate in Virtual Fireside Chat Hosted by Stephens Inc. • PR Newswire (US) • 06/04/2024 12:00:00 PM
- INOVIO Reports Inducement Grants Under Inducement Plan • PR Newswire (US) • 05/31/2024 08:48:00 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/28/2024 08:01:02 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:51:58 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:51:38 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:51:16 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:51:00 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:50:34 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:50:11 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/22/2024 08:49:53 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/16/2024 09:13:02 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/16/2024 09:12:10 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/16/2024 09:11:09 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/16/2024 09:10:00 PM
VHAI - Vocodia Partners with Leading Political Super PACs to Revolutionize Fundraising Efforts • VHAI • Sep 19, 2024 11:48 AM
Dear Cashmere Group Holding Co. AKA Swifty Global Signs Binding Letter of Intent to be Acquired by Signing Day Sports • DRCR • Sep 19, 2024 10:26 AM
HealthLynked Launches Virtual Urgent Care Through Partnership with Lyric Health. • HLYK • Sep 19, 2024 8:00 AM
Element79 Gold Corp. Appoints Kevin Arias as Advisor to the Board of Directors, Strengthening Strategic Leadership • ELMGF • Sep 18, 2024 10:29 AM
Mawson Finland Limited Further Expands the Known Mineralized Zones at Rajapalot: Palokas step-out drills 7 metres @ 9.1 g/t gold & 706 ppm cobalt • MFL • Sep 17, 2024 9:02 AM
PickleJar Announces Integration With OptCulture to Deliver Holistic Fan Experiences at Venue Point of Sale • PKLE • Sep 17, 2024 8:00 AM