WEBVTT - Inovio Pharmaceuticals CEO on Vaccine Development

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason

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<v Speaker 1>Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. We've got another guest who is

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<v Speaker 1>one of the front runners among those working on a

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine for COVID nineteen and Novia Pharmaceuticals, their Pennsylvania based company,

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<v Speaker 1>the stocks up more than six percent this year, joining

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<v Speaker 1>us right now as the president CEO of Enovo, Dr

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<v Speaker 1>Joseph Kim joining us on the phone in Pennsylvania. Dr Kim,

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<v Speaker 1>so delighted to have you here with us. Thank you

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<v Speaker 1>so much for waiting while we listen to the president. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>First of all, that headline from Maderna, what's your take

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<v Speaker 1>on it all? I think it's great progress for the

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<v Speaker 1>field for developing a vaccine, successful vaccine against COVID nineteen disease.

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<v Speaker 1>So there's many companies like Inovo and others for blazing

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<v Speaker 1>the trail just in the last six months or so,

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<v Speaker 1>trying to make history and in developing several vaccinies UH

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<v Speaker 1>that can be approved to be used both safely and

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<v Speaker 1>effectively against this horrible pandemic. So tell us where you

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<v Speaker 1>are and what you've learned so far. Dr Kim, Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>absolutely so. We just reported on the preliminary data in

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<v Speaker 1>our first clinical study involving forty healthy volunteers UH in

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<v Speaker 1>the ages of eighteen to fifty UH, and we demonstrated

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<v Speaker 1>very strong safety one of the safest vaccine platforms UH

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<v Speaker 1>in this COVID nineteen race, and also demonstrating greater than

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<v Speaker 1>of our participants having strong overall immune responses in a

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<v Speaker 1>balanced way, both in UH antibody responses as well as

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<v Speaker 1>having PI cell responses, which is another arm of the

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<v Speaker 1>immune system that is very important for protecting again sparrow disease.

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<v Speaker 1>Dr KIM. When that came out, that was a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of weeks ago, and you're you know, investors certainly reacted

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<v Speaker 1>to it a steeple, analyst said. Investors are likely to

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<v Speaker 1>focus on the paucity of information in the release, which

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<v Speaker 1>may raise more questions than answers. When are you going

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<v Speaker 1>to publish your peer reviewed immune response data and and

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<v Speaker 1>where will you will you publish it at any update

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<v Speaker 1>and when larger trials will start here, Yeah, the second

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<v Speaker 1>part of that question. First, So we're looking to start

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<v Speaker 1>our phase to slash three efficacy trials upon getting regulatory

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<v Speaker 1>concurrence this summer. So we're still on track for that. UH.

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<v Speaker 1>In terms of the Phase one data, we are as

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<v Speaker 1>we stayed, looking forward to publishing it in a peer

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<v Speaker 1>reviewed UM publication, hopefully in the next a few weeks

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<v Speaker 1>as well. So when you think about the timeline here,

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<v Speaker 1>Dr Kim, what is a reasonable timeline to get your

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<v Speaker 1>first vaccine available for use? And I think everyone wants

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<v Speaker 1>to know when it will be widely available? Yeah, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>UH in no view as well as other companies are

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<v Speaker 1>racing against as farest UH to bring us Safe and

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<v Speaker 1>Affective Act into the public as soon as possible. That

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<v Speaker 1>all depends on how well the trials go in Phase

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<v Speaker 1>two and Phase three stafies UH and demonstrating true efficacy

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<v Speaker 1>and safety of the vaccine. UH. The FDA just released

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<v Speaker 1>a guidance documents to the industry which provides their thoughts

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<v Speaker 1>on what it's going to require. And you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's certainly as rapidly as we're running UH all

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<v Speaker 1>of us. There's dozens of companies around the world trying

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<v Speaker 1>to get the vaccine. It's gonna take some time, but

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<v Speaker 1>I think there's been a lot of incremental successes in

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<v Speaker 1>Phase one and and many companies going into Phase two,

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<v Speaker 1>including our plans at inovo is a twenty twenty wide

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<v Speaker 1>release too much to hope for. Well, I think that's

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<v Speaker 1>a goal, and that certainly is an aspiration that many

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<v Speaker 1>of us in the field have. It really depends and

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<v Speaker 1>and and ironically it also depends on how bad infection

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<v Speaker 1>is around us. Uh. You know, that would put a

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<v Speaker 1>pressure or balance to the benefits and the cost of

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<v Speaker 1>having a vaccines set of vaccines approved earlier. Conditionally, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>these are the things that the FDA and their policymakers

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<v Speaker 1>will have to to decide on. What we focused on

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<v Speaker 1>a Inobio and I'm assuming other companies as well, is

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<v Speaker 1>to execute the next steps in the development, so next trials,

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<v Speaker 1>next testing, so that we will be in a proper

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<v Speaker 1>position to get the vaccines approved, uh, through this gauntlet.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, it typically takes up to ten years or

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<v Speaker 1>longer to get a vaccine approved. And everyone started or

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<v Speaker 1>you know, from from day one at the same place

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<v Speaker 1>in January, so you know, we're we're moving in a

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<v Speaker 1>historical pace, but it's never fast enough because there are

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<v Speaker 1>people dying every day. You said, though, how bad the

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<v Speaker 1>infection is around us will determine potentially, I guess how

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<v Speaker 1>regulators how quickly they want to move things along. If

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<v Speaker 1>we don't see a second surge or off cases seem

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<v Speaker 1>to die down, does this whole movement of finding a

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine slowed down as well globally? Well, that's that's always

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<v Speaker 1>a potential, and certainly that would be great for the society.

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<v Speaker 1>Um but as we're in the middle of still the

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<v Speaker 1>first wave and there's many experts predicting the second wave,

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<v Speaker 1>all we can do as vaccine developers focused on our objective,

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<v Speaker 1>which is to test properly the safety and advocacy of

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<v Speaker 1>the vaccine and be ready when we're called upon. Some

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<v Speaker 1>of your peers have received larger government funding or significant

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<v Speaker 1>amount of funding. What about for you, guys, do you

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<v Speaker 1>see getting any additional funds from the government. Well, I

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<v Speaker 1>think absolutely. I think Udobio has already received extensive external

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<v Speaker 1>funding from US Department of Defense just recently a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of weeks ago, as well as from the Bill and

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<v Speaker 1>Melinda Gates Foundation and SEPPI in the past. As we

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<v Speaker 1>events are program as re gu upe for massive manufacturing

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<v Speaker 1>readiness or a vaccine, and we expect, uh you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we are also to receive commensary levels of funding support,

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<v Speaker 1>and certainly US government is a major part of that.

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<v Speaker 1>So when you think about the nuts and bolts of this,

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<v Speaker 1>Dr Kim, I know a lot of people are wondering,

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<v Speaker 1>is this going to be one shot? Is it going

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<v Speaker 1>to be two shots? Is this going to be something

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<v Speaker 1>that we get once and maybe a booster and then

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<v Speaker 1>we're good to go, or is this a seasonal thing?

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<v Speaker 1>What do we know so far? Knowing that there's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot more to learn, What do you know so far? Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>most likely, I mean up to date information. Is the

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<v Speaker 1>natural infection, the immune responses wign very quickly, so if

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<v Speaker 1>you take us any guy, looks like the vaccines may

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<v Speaker 1>have to be those and boosted annually. UM. So I

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<v Speaker 1>think having a safevaccine that can be repeatedly those over

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<v Speaker 1>time it becomes even more important, not just the initial

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<v Speaker 1>those things, but having a vaccine that can safely treat

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<v Speaker 1>for several years to come until this pandemic subsize and

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<v Speaker 1>disinfection goes away is something that's very important for us

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<v Speaker 1>as vaccine developers. And so just so I make sure

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<v Speaker 1>I understand what you're saying. So you're saying probably two

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<v Speaker 1>shots once a year, potentially potentially, Well, it's certainly the

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<v Speaker 1>initial Most of the vaccines are are two doses initially,

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<v Speaker 1>and I could predict that potentially a booster shot every

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<v Speaker 1>year certainly is a possibility. You know, there's so many

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<v Speaker 1>of you, the biotech and pharmaceutical companies going after a vaccine,

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<v Speaker 1>and the potential certainly is great in terms of how

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<v Speaker 1>we can deal with this, But it's also you know,

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<v Speaker 1>coming up with a product, and I do wonder how

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<v Speaker 1>much collaboration versus competition is going on, uh in the community. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>there's unprecedented levels of collaboration, big companies, small companies together

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<v Speaker 1>collaborating on assays, manufacturing. There's certainly efforts where we're not

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<v Speaker 1>competing necessarily with one another, we're actually competing against this

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<v Speaker 1>virus that's taken so many lives already and and really

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<v Speaker 1>no end in sight. So we all realize having multiple

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<v Speaker 1>successful vaccines on the market is going to be the

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<v Speaker 1>only way to really control this pandemic and disinfection. So

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<v Speaker 1>I think we all take that at hard and try

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<v Speaker 1>to collaborate and work there as much as possible. But

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<v Speaker 1>at the end of the day, we were hopeful that

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<v Speaker 1>there will be multiple vaccines that are approved. Just got

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<v Speaker 1>about when you say multiple vaccines because the virus is

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<v Speaker 1>there's variations of it. Is that why, well, there's there's

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<v Speaker 1>really no capacity for even the largest vaccine manufacturers to

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<v Speaker 1>deal with the global demand the first few years. That's

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<v Speaker 1>number one. Number Two, Um, as we have seen the

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<v Speaker 1>virus mutate, so there may be advantages of one vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>over the other. Number three, there may be other advantages

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<v Speaker 1>of stability of the vaccine, the transportation. Uh, you know

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<v Speaker 1>inobios vaccine doesn't have to be kept in a frozen condition.

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<v Speaker 1>We can just deliver in a room temperature, which is

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<v Speaker 1>a huge advantage over other platform vaccines. And lastly, the boosting,

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<v Speaker 1>So you may need a booster vaccine that can be

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<v Speaker 1>booster over and over again. Uh. Some vaccines are more

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<v Speaker 1>poised to do that, like innobios vaccine. Al Right, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>we really appreciate your time and best of luck. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's safe to say we're all counting on

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<v Speaker 1>you in many ways and the great work that you

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<v Speaker 1>and your colleagues are doing. As you say, dozens of

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<v Speaker 1>companies uh fighting this. It's a race against the virus.

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<v Speaker 1>So we appreciate you. Dr Joseph Kim, President CEO of

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<v Speaker 1>an Ovio Pharmaceuticals, joining us on the phone,