Ology Bioservices has won an $11.9 million Department of Defense contract to work on a potential COVID-19 vaccine with Plymouth Meeting-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Under the contract, the Florida-based company will work with Inovio to support the production of its DNA vaccine, INO-4800. They are currently developing this to prevent coronavirus infections.

According to the two companies, the goal of the program is to deliver the vaccine to the defense department “rapidly and efficiently” for upcoming clinical trials.

Inovio expects to start testing INO-4800 on humans in April.

“Along with advancing INO-4800 through clinical studies as rapidly as possible, Inovio’s goal is to scale up the manufacturing of this vaccine for future studies and for potential emergency use, if appropriate,” said J. Joseph Kim, Inovio’s president and CEO.

He added that the partnership with Ology which is funded by the DoD will increase Inovio’s manufacturing capabilities for the potential vaccine.

This will also help establish an additional DNA vaccine manufacturing facility that would help “protect the U.S. military against current and future disease outbreaks.”

Read more about Inovio Pharmaceuticals at the Philadelphia Business Journal by clicking here.

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Top photo credit: The National Guard New Jersey National Guard via photopin (license)

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