Wyeth juiced Inovio Biomedical Corp.'s bottom line with a potential $64.5 million, nonexclusive licensing deal that gives the pharma giant rights to use MedPulser electroporation delivery technology in DNA vaccines. The arrangement--Inovio's second with a major vaccine player--brings $4.5 million up front from wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Madison, NJ., plus annual license maintenance fees, research support, and as much as $60 million in possible milestone payments. In May 2004, Inovio (then known as Genetronics Biomedical Corp.) entered a deal with Merck & Co. Inc, of Whitehouse Station, NJ. Terms were not disclosed. "People have been trying to develop DNA vaccines for the last 15 years," said Avtar Dhillon, president and CEO of San Diego-based Inovio. "They had terrific results in rats and rabbits," but monkeys failed to respond when scientists delivered the vaccines by conventional routes. A quick zap provided by Inovio's MedPulser machine opens pores in cell membranes to let in therapeutic molecules, and the pores close within minutes without damage to cells.
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