VGX Pharmaceuticals Awarded $23.5 Million NIH Contract to Develop DNA-Based Preventive HIV Vaccine Delivered Via Electroporation US government grant supports preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing and other

VGX Pharmaceuticals Awarded $23.5 Million NIH Contract to Develop DNA-Based

Preventive HIV Vaccine

Delivered Via Electroporation

US government grant supports preclinical and clinical

development, manufacturing and other activities for VGX s HIV DNA vaccine

Blue Bell, PA - October 1,

2008 - VGX Pharmaceuticals (VGX), a developer of DNA vaccines against cancer

and infectious diseases that has entered into a definitive merger agreement

with Inovio Biomedical (AMEX: INO), announced today that the National Institute

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National

Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded the company a contract to develop a

preventive HIV DNA vaccine candidate in conjunction with VGX s constant current

electroporation technology for intradermal delivery of DNA vaccines. The contract was awarded to VGX under the

NIAID s HIV Vaccine Design and Development Teams program and brings together HIV

vaccine experts from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and VGX. The contract, titled Development of Improved

DNA Vaccines and Electroporation Delivery Devices for Prophylactic HIV Vaccines ,

provides $23.5 million of funding over seven years, including a base period and

follow-on option years.

VGX s vaccine candidate,

PENNVAX -G (targeting HIV clades A, C, and D), was developed in the laboratory

of DNA vaccines pioneer Professor David B. Weiner at the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicine and licensed to VGX. The DNA-based vaccine will

be delivered using VGX s novel intradermal electroporation (ID-EP)

technology. This program expands VGX s

portfolio of candidate HIV vaccines. The

PENNVAX -B vaccine (targeting HIV clade B) is presently in two Phase I clinical

The funding of VGX and the

proposed development program covers preclinical optimization, immunogenicity

and challenge studies in animal models, IND-enabling toxicology studies, cGMP-manufacturing

of all components of the DNA vaccine and CELLECTRA -ID-EP device, and the

conduct of a Phase I human clinical trial.

cGMP manufacture of the PENNVAX -G constructs to support clinical trials

will be conducted at VGXI, Inc. s state of the art manufacturing

facility. The principal investigator for

the contract is Dr. Niranjan Y. Sardesai, VGX s Senior Vice President of

Research and Development.

VGX is honored to be

chosen for this important contract from the NIH to further develop our

electroporation-delivered HIV vaccine. Dr. Weiner

is acknowledged as a pioneer in the field of DNA vaccines, and we are excited

to have put together the VGX-University of Pennsylvania development team in

partnership with the Division of AIDS at NIAID.

With promising research results to date, we look forward to advancing

this DNA vaccine against HIV into clinical studies, stated Dr. Sardesai.

substantiates the NIH s endorsement of VGX s approach to DNA vaccines and their

delivery via our proprietary in vivo electroporation technology, added Dr. J.

Joseph Kim, President and CEO of VGX. HIV remains a challenging and tremendously

important area of medical research, and we value the NIH s support to further

evaluate the immunogenicity and efficacy of our electroporation delivery system

and novel preventive HIV vaccine candidate.

HIV is transferred by blood, semen, other bodily fluids or breast milk and

can lead to acquired immunodeficiency

syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which the immune system begins to fail,

leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. AIDS is a pandemic that has killed an

estimated 25 million people in the last 25 years. In 2007 alone, 33.2 million people were living

with HIV, approximately 2.5 million people became newly infected with HIV, and

an estimated 2.1 million lost their lives to AIDS worldwide. While antiretroviral treatments reduce both

mortality and morbidity of HIV infection, routine access to such medications is

not available in all countries. The

development of effective vaccines for HIV prevention and treatment therefore remains

an important goal for global organizations.

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About VGX Pharmaceuticals

VGX Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company

with small molecule and biologic product candidates for the treatment of

infectious diseases, cancer, and inflammatory diseases. The Company s clinical

development programs include PENNVAX -B for HIV infection, which is in 2

separate Phase I clinical trials, VGX-1027 for inflammatory diseases and

VGX-3100, a DNA therapeutic vaccine for cervical cancer delivered by VGX s

electroporator, all of which are in Phase I clinical trials. In addition, the Company has filed INDs for

VGX-3200, a novel DNA therapy that utilizes GHRH for the treatment of cancer