Inovio focused on launching global COVID-19 vaccine trial next month - CEO

Inovio Pharmaceuticals CEO Joseph Kim says the company is focused on launching a late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate INO-4800 next month, with the drug developer expecting data in the first half of 2022, as reported in Yahoo!News.

The global trial will initially focus on Latin America, Asia Pacific and regions in Africa, the company said.

"We were initially focusing on Latin America and Asia Pacific, but looking at the rapidly changing vaccination rates and the virus epidemiology, we are including regions in Africa," a company executive stated.

In May, Inovio said it would begin the study of INO-4800 this summer, after the vaccine candidate was found to be safe and produced an immune response against the new coronavirus in a Phase II trial.

The company began developing INO-4800 last year, but fell behind rivals after the FDA put a part of the US study on hold for more information on the vaccine delivery device.

The FDA's decision was followed by the US government pulling funding for the late-stage study, citing the fast-moving environment of vaccine development.