Inovio is a Plymouth Meeting based Company that has been in the news primarily for two reasons.
The first reason is that on June 30, Inovio issued a press release announcing “positive interim clinical data of INO-4800, its vaccine candidate against novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), from the first two phase 1 clinical trial cohorts. In addition, INO-4800 has been selected to participate in a non-human primate (NHP) challenge study as part of the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed, a new national program aiming to provide substantial quantities of safe, eective vaccine for Americans by January 2021. Furthermore, INOVIO has expanded its Phase 1 trial to add older participants in additional cohorts and plans to initiate a Phase 2/3 eficacy trial this summer upon regulatory concurrence. The company claimed that (34 out of 36 total trial participants) demonstrated overall immunological response rates based on preliminary data assessing humoral (binding and neutralizing) and T cell immune responses. “
Source, Tradingview.com
The second reason why Inovio is in the news, and by the way, it’s getting a lot more press coverage for second reason than the first, is because their stock is going crazy.
One day after Inovio made its big announcement, the company’s per share price dropped from $26.95 to $19.73. That drop could be attributed to what the Wall Street Journal wrote about Inovio on June 30 – “The vaccine, one of many in development around the world, still has much to prove. The results don’t show whether it actually protects people who are exposed to the new virus, an important proof point. Many vaccines fail to pass muster even after showing positive signs in early testing. Inovio said it has expanded the trial to add older participants and plans to start later-stage studies when the company receives regulatory approval, likely this summer.”
By Friday afternoon (July 17), Inovio’s stock had rebounded to $26.97 per share, still off from its high of $31.25 that it posted on June 25.
Investors Business Daily, on Wednesday (July 15) wrote of Inovio, that it was “essentially a dollar-stock in 2019, hitting as low as 1.91 in October.” They also noted that the “company has reported several years of quarterly losses.In the first quarter, Inovio lost 26 cents a share.” Inovio’s total revenue in the first quarter of 2020 was only $1.3 million.
According to Marketbeat, On June 30, Inovio CFO Peter Kies sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock (average price $26.50). And on July 15 he sold another 35,000 shares (average price $24.95). Kies still owns 154,290 shares of Inovio.