Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (INO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Mr. Chairman, the report of the inspector of election covering proposals presented at this meeting is as follows. Based upon a preliminary tally of the votes cast, the nominated slate of directors has received sufficient votes from the holders of capital stock to elect each of the 7 nominees for the Board of Directors, and such nominees are elected. Also, based upon a preliminary tally of the votes cast, the proposal to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Inovio's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2021, has received sufficient votes to be approved. Also, based upon a preliminary tally of the votes cast, the proposal to approve on a nonbinding advisory basis the compensation of the named executive officers Inovio described in its proxy statement for this annual meeting has received sufficient votes to be approved. We expect to report our preliminary voting results or, if available to us on a timely basis, our final voting results on a current report on Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 4 business days after the end of this meeting. If not earlier reported, we expect to report our final voting results in an amendment to our Form 8-K within 4 business days after the final results are known to us.

There being no other business properly brought before the meeting, this now concludes the formal portion of the annual meeting of stockholders of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. I want to thank all of you for coming today, and I will now hand it over to our CEO, Joseph Kim, to provide a business -- brief business update.

Thank you, Simon, and good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all my fellow shareholders attending remotely from locations around the world. As we just hosted our first quarter earnings call on Monday, I will keep my corporate update brief. We, the world, Inovio, and each one of us are in a very different position than when we connected last at our first virtual annual meeting last May. A few first-wave COVID vaccines have helped us in the U.S. move closer to normal every day. But when you widen your focus, we see that only 5% of the world's population has been vaccinated. At Inovio, we have urgent work to do. Let me provide you with an overview of our COVID vaccine program. We know that today, our ability to have the greatest impact on this public health crisis is increasingly outside the United States. In late April, we announced that we would be bringing -- we will be conducting a global Phase III trial for INO-4800 and without the DoD funding that was unexpectedly withdrawn. However, we are now working with funders and partners to achieve this plan and are tracking on schedule with an expectation of initiating the trial this summer. Inovio's global Phase III trial plans build on the positive INO-4800 Phase II data we reported earlier this week. Results show that INO-4800 continues to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic in all studied age groups, further validating our initial results in a larger population. The expanded data set met our chief objective of clearly selecting 2-milligram dose as our dose for our global Phase III efficacy trial. We look forward to proceeding with this Phase III trial this summer as well as to sharing additional details about this trial with you in the coming weeks. Importantly, we remain on track executing our Phase III development plan as we have previously stated. We're also working urgently to advance this product as our first commercialized product in 2022. Company recognizes the growing and unmet global demand for both primary vaccination as well as potential boosting doses of COVID-19 vaccines and look forward to supporting the rollout of much-needed additional vaccines to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including both current and future variants around the world once the efficacy data is reached. Now let me also update you on our immuno-oncology efforts. For GBM, a deadliest form of brain cancer, Inovio's Phase I/II novel combination trial of INO-5401 with PD-1 inhibitor LIBTAYO from Regeneron and Sanofi is currently being studied in the newly diagnosed GBM patients. We anticipate sharing 24 months overall survival data, median overall survival data in both cohorts and potentially correlative immunology and tissue data later this year. To focus on our HPV-related disease efforts, Inovio announced that we met the primary and secondary efficacy endpoints among all evaluable subjects for REVEAL 1, our Phase III pivotal trial evaluating VGX-3100 for the treatment of cervical HSIL or precancer caused by HPV. The company continues to follow subjects in REVEAL 1 study for long-term safety and durability of response, following the last 18 months, following the last administration and looks forward to reporting the complete data later this year. We're also continuing our partnership with QIAGEN on an in-vitro diagnostic-based RNA sequencing technologies to guide clinical decision-making for the use of VGX-3100 in cervical HSIL. Importantly, this biomarker companion diagnostics could help us to identify prospective VGX-3100 patients who would be most likely to respond to our immunotherapy. In addition, our REVEAL 2 efforts are also continuing across -- actively across the 8 global sets. Financially, we ended the first quarter with over $518 million in cash and short-term investments, providing us with multiple years of sufficient capital to support existing activities and programs. I'd like to take the opportunity to recognize and thank, first, our shareholders for their continued support of our mission and our activities. I also thank the Inovio team and our patients, partners and collaborators for their tireless efforts. While there is still more work in front of us, I'm incredibly proud and remain confident in our team's ability to advance Inovio's DNA medicines platform and programs and look forward to potentially bringing INO-4800 as our first commercialized product from our pipeline in 2022. If I can leave you with one point about Inovio, it is this. We are staying on track with our INO-4800 development plans. We are on track to commence Phase III and keeping our time lines and promises to those around the world who have not had access to vaccines. I look forward to bringing you more updates on our progress and our urgent efforts to bring life-changing DNA medicines against the COVID virus, other infectious diseases and cancers and precancers. And I thank all my fellow shareholders for your continued support of Inovio. Thank you.

Thank you. The annual general meeting for Inovio Pharmaceuticals has now come to an end. Thank you for attending. You may now leave the virtual meeting.