Inovio tanks as govt funding for COVID-19 vaccine withdrawn

US biotech Inovio Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: INO) saw its shares crash nearly 25% to $6.85 by close of trading on Friday, after it revealed that the US government had pulled the plug on funding for its Phase III trial of COVID-19 vaccine candidate INO-4800.

Given the increasing availability of vaccines authorized for emergency use, the Department of Defense Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) in coordination with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (OASD(HA)) and the Defense Health Agency (DHA), will discontinue funding for the Phase III segment of the INNOVATE trial, while continuing to fund the completion of the ongoing Phase II segment, said Innovio.

As a result, it is planning for a predominantly ex-US Phase III trial for INO-4800, with existing global collaborators such as Inovio’s China partner, Advaccine, and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI,) the company is planning for a predominantly ex-US global Phase III trial, said Inovio, which has lagged behind rivals in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, such as Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and partner BioNTech (Nasdaq: BNTX), Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), whose jabs have already received US emergency use authorization..