Inovio Pharmaceuticals's Covid-19 vaccine triggers immune response

(Sharecast News) - Inovio Pharmaceuticals's experimental vaccine against the novel coronavirus was found to be safe in an early stage clinical trial and successfully induced an immune response in the majority of participants in the test.
Despite the results of the trial, as of 1803 BST shares of Inovio were slumping by 17.51% to $26.14 after some analysts sounded a cautious note on the results.

"We'd like to see data on these measures separately and broken out by dose before drawing too many conclusions," Piper Sandler analyst, Christopher Raymond, said.

The vaccine achieved immune responses - measured in the form of binding antibodies and T-cells - in 34 of 36 healthy volunteers participating in the trial, with full data set to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal later on.

Admittedly however, the stock's price had more than doubled over the preceding seven sessions.

And for the biotech outfit's boss, Joseph Kim, the trial had been a success, Reuters reported.

Kim reportedly also claimed that his company's vaccine was likely the safest vaccine from among the various platforms being used against Covid-19.

A mid-to-late stage trial to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine in summer.

Earlier, America's main regulatory body, the Food&Drug Administration had said that for a coronavirus vaccine to be deemed effective it would have to be able to either protect from infection or lower the severity of symptoms in at least half of those innoculated with it.

Inovio's vaccine was one of 17 being developed as part of the Trump administration's 'Warp Speed' programme.