QIAGEN and INOVIO Expand Collaboration to Develop Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Companion Diagnostic for INOVIO’s VGX-3100 for Advanced Cervical Dysplasia

QIAGEN (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) and INOVIO Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) today announced an extension of their partnership with a new master collaboration agreement to develop liquid biopsy-based companion* diagnostic products based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to complement INOVIO’s therapies.
(*Complementary when referring to the US regulatory pathway.)

The initial project in this expanded collaboration focuses on the co-development of a diagnostic test that identifies women who are most likely to benefit from clinical use of VGX-3100, INOVIO's immunotherapy to treat advanced cervical dysplasia associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV). QIAGEN’s bioinformatic expertise will further increase the predictive power of INOVIO’s preliminary biomarker signature – and the assay will now be developed for use on the Illumina NextSeq™ 550Dx platform, the first development based on a partnership QIAGEN and Illumina signed in October 2019.

VGX-3100 is INOVIO’s late-stage DNA immunotherapy candidate. It is currently in two Phase 3 trials (REVEAL 1 and REVEAL 2), with the potential to become the first non-surgical treatment for advanced pre-cancerous cervical lesions associated with the virus (HPV-16 and HPV-18).

"As we advance our DNA medicines platform, we are always looking for ways to drive innovation with our own technology or that of a creative and accomplished partner. QIAGEN is contributing an extensive track record of developing and commercializing novel diagnostic tests,” said Dr. J. Joseph Kim, INOVIO’s President and CEO. “INOVIO is developing VGX-3100 as a non-surgical treatment for cervical pre-cancer and pre-treatment biomarkers we have discovered could be a targeted way to identify patients most likely to respond to treatment. The goal is to increase the absolute efficacy of the immunotherapy."

Please find the full press release here.

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