Transgene, ChronTech Pharma and Inovio to collaborate on hep C vaccine

France’s Transgene (Euronext Paris: FR0005175080) has signed a collaboration agreement with Sweden’s ChronTech Pharma AB (CTEC : ST) and US firm Inovio Pharmaceuticals, (NYSE Amex: INO) to evaluate a novel therapeutic vaccination strategy against genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a Phase I clinical study.

It is common to follow an initial “prime” vaccination with a “boost” of the same vaccine to achieve the required level and durability of immune protection. In this collaboration, the strategy is to use different prime and boost vaccines with the goal of obtaining a clinical effect by inducing different immune responses. A Phase I study, to be started later this year, will use ChronTech’s ChronVac-C plasmid DNA vaccine delivered by in vivo electroporation using Inovio’s Medpulser DDS as the “prime” and Transgene’s therapeutic vaccine TG4040, a modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), as the “boost”.

DNA-based vaccines delivered using electroporation and MVA based vaccines have been separately shown to be safe and immunogenic in clinical studies. The ChronVac-C DNA vaccine delivered by in vivo electroporation using the Medpulser was recently reported to be safe and generate antigen specific immune responses as well as antiviral effects in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial.