On Apr. 30, 2020, INOVIO announced an agreement to expand its manufacturing partnership with the German contract manufacturer Richter-Helm BioLogics, to support large-scale manufacturing of INOVIO’s investigational DNA vaccine INO-4800, which was in Phase 1 clinical testing in the U.S. for COVID-19 and could potentially advance to Phase 2/3 efficacy trials in the summer.

The agreement was partly funded by an initial grant of $1.3 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which brings CEPI’s total support to date for the development of INO-4800 to $17.2 million.