Plymouth Meeting-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals saw its stock drop by 25 percent last week. This was after the U.S. government decided to pull its funding for late-stage vaccine trials testing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, INO-4800, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The decision was made due to the growing availability of authorized vaccines in the United States.

The biotechnology company has been working on a potential COVID-19 vaccine since the start of the pandemic. However, they delayed the development. The Food and Drug Administration raised questions regarding the device planned for administering the vaccine.

The vaccine is in mid-stage testing at this time. The federal government will provide funds for the completion of the current phase 2 trial. It has not been disclosed what the exact amount is.

Going forward, Inovio is now looking to move its phase 3 vaccine trials overseas.

“With existing global collaborators such as Inovio’s China partner, Advaccine, and the International Vaccine Institute, the company is planning for a predominantly ex-U.S. global phase-III trial based on upcoming evaluation of phase-II safety and immunogenicity data,” said Inovio.

Read more about Inovio in the Philadelphia Business Journal.