American is split on the nation's response to Covid-19, but is that anything new?

CLEVELAND COVID-19 and the nations response to it, like seemingly everything else today, has divided the nation.

Whether its masks, hydroxychloroquine, businesses closing down or opening up, or even the severity of the coronavirus, everything about this pandemic has been polarizing.

People believe, in general, whats comfortable for them to believe and convenient for them to believe, Joseph White, a professor of political science and public policy at Case Western Reserve University, told 3News.

White says the politicization of healthcare and medicine is not something new. He cites President Woodrow Wilson neglecting to address the 1918 flu pandemic due to potential effects on the World War I effort, as well as President Ronald Reagan overlooking the AIDS epidemic. However, he says this time is a little different.

Whats unique here is the divisions are far more neatly along partisan lines and identified with party membership, he explained.

The countrys divide on the virus and the responses to it have been felt by the medical community.

Its just not a political issue, Dr. Amy Ray, the Medical Director for infection prevention at MetroHealth, said. For me, its frustrating to watch it be treated as such.

Ray says she understands the different reactions, but its been challenging to deal with.

Everyone is analyzing the data in their own way, she said.

So how did we get here? White says its been happening for years. We went from a nation in disagreement, to a nation divided, ultimately becoming a nation living in two separate realities.

Some of that is from the difference in media sources, he said. Some of that is from what people call the big sort, where more and more democrats live near democrats and republicans live near republicans. Theres disagreements about facts and disagreements about expertise to a point where people simply live in different realities.

While the fractured America will continue to disagree over public policy, Ray and White both hold hope that eventually the nation will get behind one common goal: Defeating this virus.

The virus doesnt care about politics and it certainly doesnt care about elections, Ray said. We, as humans, have to get through this together no matter which political party we belong to or not.

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The politicization of medicine during the coronavirus pandemic - WKYC.com

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Friday that he would have thought twice about pursuing a career in medicine had he known that it would lead to his talking someday to Representative Jim Jordan.

Speaking to reporters after his congressional testimony, Fauci said that, during his appearance in the hearing room, he had been revisiting the series of life choices that had resulted in his being forced to hear Jordan speak.

I could have done so many other things with my life, the esteemed virologist said. I could have been a firefighter. I was actually a pretty good dancer back in the day. I could have given that a shot.

Reflecting on those roads not taken, Fauci added, Had I chosen any of those fields, you can bet your bottom dollar I wouldnt have spent today having to listen to Jim Jordan. Those are minutes Ill never get back.

Fauci clarified that he was very grateful for his career as an an epidemiologist but added, Lets not kid ourselves. If I were a professional dancer, theres about a zero-per-cent chance I would ever be in the same room as Jim Jordan. Oh, wellit is what it is.

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Fauci Would Have Thought Twice About Career in Medicine Had He Known It Meant Someday Talking to Jim Jordan - The New Yorker

Mitchell Hill

Loud noises rattle Mitchell Hill more than most. At 24-years-old, the Wilmette native endured 42 (and counting) MRI tests to ensure that a brain tumor, discovered when he was 2-years-old, has not returned.

As anyone whos had an MRI knows, the experience is jarringstuffed into a tube, unable to move, nothing to distract your mind from the noise.

The majority of Hills MRIs were done at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago Outpatient Center in Lincoln Park. The MRI room had sterile white walls and a looming massive MRI machine that rattled nerves as it stopped and started.

The tests were a very traumatic part of my childhood, Hill recalls.

Hill thought about how this process could be improved not only for himself but for others. He knew several members of Lurie Childrens staff and began to ask them questions.

Northbrook outpatient room PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBIN SUBAR

In 2017, he met with a member of the Lurie Childrens Foundation team. They embraced his idea of a more child-friendly MRI room but at the time were unable to take on the project.

So I wrote that one off and thought, okay, its a good idea, but its not going to happen, Hill says.

Fast forward to Lurie Childrens work with Chicago artist Steve Musgrave at its new Surgical Center in Northbrook. Graphic illustrator Musgraves large-scale murals and digital designs have positively impacted childrens experiences at the main hospital.

Lurie Childrens Foundation called Hill and expressed an interest in using similar murals around the MRI machines at its Lincoln Park Outpatient Center. The Foundation gave Hill a dollar figure he needed in order to fund the installationand he was on it.

Lisa Mulvaney, Arts in Medicine Coordinator at Lurie Childrens, likens the installation process to being a conductor. She coordinates with artists, clinical teams, and vendors who fabricate and print the designs.

Its challenging to design illustrations around an MRI machine, Mulvaney says. The goal was to transform the entire feel of the room, and most importantly, the childs first impression.

The idea of transforming spaces and making the hospital feel less clinical and more child-friendly is something that has been part of Lurie Childrens mission from day one, explains Mulvaney.

As Lurie Childrens plans blossomed, so did Hills fundraising efforts. He turned to family and friends for the initial funds and managed to raise the dollars necessary for the Lincoln Park installation. He thought that was the end of it.

Check signing for art installation

Then Hill got another call from Lurie Childrens. They were inspired by the projects impact on patients and families and were beginning a renovation of their MRI suites at the main hospital. The rooms were bigger and so were the fundraising goals$10,000 per room. At the end of the project, there would be 4 MRI rooms.

I told them yes and then got off the phone, Hill recalls. I thought, this just went from a reasonable project to a project five times that amount. How am I going to pull this off?

He realized it would be better to partner with a corporate donor. At the time he worked for Revolution Brewing in Chicago.

If I was going to reach out to Chicago corporations, I might as well start with my employer, Hill says.

So he pitched Revolution Brewings CFO Doug Veliky. Velikys son was struggling with medical issues at the time and he was acquainted with the sterility of MRI rooms. In Veliky, Hill found someone who understood his mission. Veliky became a huge advocate and fundraised 76 percent of the projects goal.

As of now, Hill says he and Veliky have helped transform five MRI rooms at Lurie Childrens.

For 25 of my 40 tests, I had to be sedated because I was so anxious, Hill says. And coming off the anesthesia, as my mom will attest, was pretty extreme.

We want the designs to appeal to kids of all ages, Mulvaney elaborates. Theres also walking the fine line of making the designs friendly and engaging, but not overstimulating for kids who may have sensory issues, she explains.

This past September, Hills journey came full circle when he needed an MRI at the Outpatient Center in Lincoln Park, the first location that he helped transform.

Theres a big window that leads to a room full of doctors controlling the machine youre about to go intoalmost as if youre the subject of an experiment, he notes. With a fox decal, you cant see the doctors in the other room, which I thought was quite pleasing.

It appears that Hill has out-foxed some of the MRI room anxiety.

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Just the Right Medicine - Daily North Shore

Head and neck cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) account for the majority of these cases. In a new study, based on preclinical research and published July 29, 2020 in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center report that an investigational drug candidate called tipifarnib showed promise in treating HNSCC tumors with mutations in the HRAS gene.

The findings shed new light on the HRAS gene, a member of the RAS family of genes that produce proteins that regulate a variety of cellular processes, including growth, movement and differentiation. In 4 to 8 percent of HNSCC tumors, the HRAS gene is mutated.

J. Silvio Gutkind, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and associate director of basic science at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

This preclinical research has the potential to extend to the entire HNSCC patient community, whose overall survival rates are limited in recurrent or metastatic disease, and existing therapeutic options that are far from optimal, with response rates of roughly 10 to 20 percent, said senior co-author J. Silvio Gutkind, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and associate director of basic science at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

These preclinical findings support the idea that HRAS represents a druggable oncogene in HNSCC through tipifarnibs inhibition of a key enzyme. It is a precision therapeutic option for HNSCCs harboring HRAS mutations.

Tipifarnib is a selective inhibitor of farnesyltransferase, an enzyme that plays a critical role in anchoring some RAS family proteins to cellular membranes. Unlike KRAS and NRAS gene mutations, HRAS is dependent on farnesyltransferase activity for function, offering a way to indirectly target an oncogenic RAS isoform using a well-characterized drug with extensive clinical experience.

In the study, UC San Diego researchers found that cell line- and patient-derived HNSCC models harboring HRAS mutations were highly sensitive to tipifarnib, which the authors said has demonstrated encouraging preliminary clinical activity in patients with relapsed or refractory HRAS-mutant HNSCC to date.

Currently, Kura Oncology, a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company, is conducting a nationwide clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of tipifarnib in head and neck cancer with HRAS mutations. Employees of Kura are co-authors of the new paper. UC San Diego is not part of the trial.

Treatment with tipifarnib, wrote study authors, had a multifaceted effect on the biology of HRAS-mutant HNSCC tumors, reducing oncogenic signaling and proliferation, while increasing apoptosis (cell death), blocking angiogenesis (development of new blood vessels in tumors) and driving squamous differentiation of tumors.

Head and neck cancer accounts for approximately 650,000 cases and 330,000 deaths annually worldwide. In the United States, approximately 4 percent of all cancers are head and neck, with an estimated 65,630 persons diagnosed each year, two-thirds of them men and 14,500 deaths, according to Cancer.Net.

Co-authors of the study include: Mara Gilardi, Zhiyong Wang, Marco Proietto, Anastasia Chilla, Yusuke Goto, Alfredo A. Molinolo, and Napoleone Ferrara, all at UC San Diego; Juan Luis Calleja-Valera, Sanford Research; Marco Vanoni, University Milano-Biocacca; Matthew R. Janes, Kumquat Biosciences, Inc.; Zbigniew Mikulski, La Jolla Institute for Immunology; and Antonio Gualberto, Kura Oncology, Inc.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (grant 1R01DE026870), the National Institutes of Health (grant S10OD021831) and the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research.

Disclosures: Matthew Janes is an employee and stockholder of Kumquat Biosciences. Antonio Gualberto and Francis Burrows are employees and stockholders of Kura Oncology. J. Silvo Gutkind is a member of the advisory boards of Oncoceutics, Domain Therapeutics and Vividion. Ferrara is co-founder of Theia Therapeutics, serves on the Board of Directors and has equity.

Link:

Precision Medicine Identifies Key Recurring Mutation in Head and Neck Cancers - UC San Diego Health

Mindfulness is a way of learning to relate directly to whatever is happening in your life, a way of taking charge of your life, a way of doing something for yourself that no one else can do for youconsciously and systematically working with your own stress, illness and the challenges and demands of everyday life.

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course schedule consists of one orientation class, eight weekly classes and one daylong retreat on a Saturday. This highly participatory, practical course includes guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices, gentle stretching and mindful yoga, group dialogue and discussions aimed at enhancing awareness in everyday life, and daily home assignments. Students also will receive a home practice manual and be sent occasional recordings.

The MBSR course is scheduled for Aug. 20Oct. 15.Attendance for the orientation session is mandatory and foundational for participation in the MBSR course. The deadline to register for the eight-week program is the Tuesday evening following the orientation session.

Learn more and register. >>

NOTE: If you are an individual living with chronic pain or anxiety, please be aware that the Osher Center for Integrative Health offers mindfulness classes that are specifically designed for your situation (please refer to the Living Well with Chronic Pain or Mindfulness Skills groups on our website).

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Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course offered by Osher Center for Integrative Medicine - Vanderbilt University News

Global Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging Market Forecast to 2027- COVID-19 Impact Analysis and Forecast

The report on the Global Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging Market contains details about market segmentation based on technology, product type, end-user industry, and regional analysis. The report provides a brief overview of the market for Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging and current and future market trends. The report considers 2017-2018 as historical years, 2019 as the base year, and provides an estimate for the forecast period of 2020-2027. The revenue estimations for this forecast period are determined through applications and types of the products available in the Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging market.

The report covers the Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging market with regards to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. It analyzes the impact of the pandemic on market growth and remuneration. The pandemic has changed the economic scenario of the world and has affected several sectors of the market. The report estimates the market for Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging according to the impact of COVID-19.

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Key manufacturers and vendors are profiled extensively, including their product portfolios, production capacity, gross margins, revenues, and costing. Their market share is calculated in the regional analysis. The report also includes SWOT analysis, Porters Five Forces analysis, feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.

Major players profiled in the report include:

Canon Medical Systems, GE Healthcare, Koning Corporation, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Neusoft Medical Systems Corporation Limited, Siemens Healthineers, Hitachi Healthcare Systems, Neurologica Corporation, Shenzhen Anke High-Tech Co., Bracco Imaging SPA, and Koninklijke Philips NV, among others.

The report includes primary and subjective research with a comprehensive study examined and validated by industry professionals and experts. The report aims to provide a deeper understanding of the market and to gain fruitful investment information for further business expansions. The report covers the current market situation, growth opportunities, technological advancements, and government policies of the market.

Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging market segmentation based on Product Types:

Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging market segmentation by Applications:

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Furthermore, the report studies the factors impacting the growth of the market, restraints that might hamper the market growth, and limitations that would impact business expansion. The report also provides profiles of key competitive players and their strategies and operating procedures. The report further provides insights into the opportunities and threats that the industry may witness in the upcoming years, throughout the forecast period. The study also provides an insight into the growth in revenue, along with estimated CAGR through the forecast period.

Benefits of Global Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging Market Report:

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Impact of Covid-19 on Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography And Nuclear Medicine Imaging Market 2020 Analysis by Geographical Regions, Type and...

In the race against COVID-19, biopharmaceutical firms Regeneron and Sanofi have launched clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of their drug, Kevzara, in treating the virus' life-threatening immune complications.

Interestingly, Kevzara isn't new; it was initially approved by the FDA in 2017 as an anti-inflammatory treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

The launch of new trials for this drug provides hope that a treatment for COVID-19 -- and a host of other serious diseases -- might already be sitting behind your pharmacist's counter. But discovering fresh ways to utilize existing drugs requires policies that encourage researchers to look for them in the first place.

Scientists have been discovering new uses for old medicines for decades. These new uses are what researchers call a new "indication."

Recently, scientists have found that several colon-cancer drugs can slow the progress of macular degeneration -- an eye condition that gradually leads to blindness. Close to 11 million Americans suffer from macular degeneration. About half of all patients treated with the new indication can see well enough to drive after five years.

Moreover, Harvard Medical School researchers are exploring the use of a common vaccine for tuberculosis in treating type 1 diabetes, an affliction with which 1.25 million U.S. residents live.

These examples notwithstanding, the potential for discovering new indications for already-approved drugs remains mostly untapped. The FDA has approved more than 20,000 prescription drug products for marketing. Any could have powerful new therapeutic applications.

Thankfully, if these new indications are out there, there's a high likelihood that U.S. biopharmaceutical researchers will find them. That's because America's robust intellectual-property laws reward innovators who invest the time and resources needed to discover whether drugs can be put to new uses.

Right now, drug makers that find a new application for an existing drug can secure a "method-of-use" patent. This new patent recognizes that the indication is completely new and the company may have exclusive rights to sell the drug for that additional use once it secures FDA approval.

In this way, method-of-use patents create a financial incentive for drug companies to spend hundreds of millions of dollars exploring new indications. Without the ability to patent new methods of use, this follow-on drug development would be a money-losing endeavor.

Unfortunately, method-of-use patents are under scrutiny from some lawmakers in Washington. They claim that drug firms use these IP protections to "game" the system and force patients to pay more for new therapies.

Such assertions fail to take into account that method-of-use patents protect only the new use of the drug, not the drug itself.

Without these IP protections, some of the greatest examples of drug repurposing would have never been possible. That includes AZT -- the very first drug approved for AIDS. The medicine, created in the 1960s, was originally intended for cancer patients.

Years later, when researchers discovered AZT's potential for treating AIDS, the drug firm Burroughs-Wellcome secured a follow-on patent, enabling the company to invest the time and money required to turn AZT into an FDA-approved drug for AIDS.

The next breakthrough cure might be a drug that's already in medicine cabinets across the country. But we need robust IP protections to help these novel indications come to fruition.

Christopher Holman is a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, where his primary research focus lies at the intersection of intellectual property and biotechnology. He also serves as a senior scholar at the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University

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Guest column: The next great cure might be hiding in your medicine cabinet - The Mercury

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --INOVIO (NASDAQ: INO) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted orphan drug designation for INO-3107, its DNA medicine being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 trial for treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP).

RRP is a rare disease caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11 infections. RRP causes noncancerous tumor growths leading to life-threatening airway obstructions and can progress to cancer in rare cases. Currently, the disease is incurable and is mostly treated by surgery to remove the tumor growths to temporarily restore the airway. The tumor almost always recurs and the surgery must be repeated, often multiple times a year. RRP can severely impact the quality of life for those living with the disease.

Orphan drug designation is intended to advance drug development for rare diseases. FDA grants orphan drug status to medicines intended for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of rare diseases or conditions. In the United States, an orphan disease is defined as a disease or condition with a prevalence of less than 200,000 patients in the United States annually. This orphan drug designation from the FDA qualifies INO-3107 for various development incentives, including a tax credit on expenditures incurred in clinical studies, a waiver of the New Drug Application (NDA) fee, research grant awarded by the FDA, and most importantly, 7 years of U.S. market exclusivity upon approval for the treatment of RRP.

Ami Shah Brown, Ph.D., MPH, INOVIO's Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, said, "Receiving FDA's orphan drug designation for INO-3107 is an important milestone in the development of INOVIO's DNA medicine for this rare disease and clearly underscores the importance of addressing the unmet medical need for this debilitating condition."

The open-label, multicenter INO-3107 Phase 1/2 trial is currently open to enrollment to recruit 63 subjects in the U.S. and will evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of INO-3107 in subjects with HPV 6 and/or 11-associated RRP who have required at least two surgical interventions per year for the past three years for the removal of associated papilloma(s). For this study, adult subjects will first undergo surgical removal of their papilloma(s) and then receive four doses of INO-3107, one every three weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint will be a doubling or more in the time between surgical interventions following the first dose of INO-3107 relative to the frequency prior to study therapy.

Last year, INOVIO published data from its pilot clinical study of INO-3106 (DNA medicine candidate targeting HPV 6-caused RRP) in the scientific journal Vaccines (MDPI). Study results demonstrated that INO-3106 generated immunogenicity and engagement and expansion of an HPV 6-specific cellular response, including cytotoxic T cells. The paper also showed that INOVIO's immunotherapy allowed two out of two patients who previously required approximately two surgeries per year for several years to manage this disease to delay the need for surgery to a robust degree; one patient was able to delay surgery for over a year and a half (584 days surgery-free) and a second remained surgery-free for over two and a half years (over 915 days surgery-free).

About RRP

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a rare disease (estimated at 15,000 active cases in the U.S.) that is characterized by the growth of tumors in the respiratory tract caused by the human papillomavirus. Although benign, papillomas can cause severe, even life-threatening airway obstruction and respiratory complications. A distinguishing aspect of this disease is the tendency for the papilloma to recur after surgical procedures to remove them. Left untreated, if RRP develops in the lungs, affected individuals can potentially experience recurrent pneumonia, chronic lung disease (bronchiectasis) and, ultimately, progressive pulmonary failure. In rare cases papillomas can become cancerous (malignant transformation) developing into squamous cell carcinoma. Additional symptoms of RRP can include hoarse voice, difficulty in sleeping and swallowing, and chronic coughing. RRP symptoms are usually more severe in children than in adults. In children, the disorder is most often diagnosed at or around the age of four years. In adults, the disorder occurs most often in the third or fourth decade.

About INOVIO's DNA Medicines Platform

INOVIO has 15 DNA medicine clinical programs currently in development focused on HPV-associated diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases, including coronaviruses associated with MERS and COVID-19 diseases being developed under grants from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the U.S. Department of Defense. DNA medicines are composed of optimized DNA plasmids, which are small circles of double-stranded DNA that are synthesized or reorganized by a computer sequencing technology and designed to produce a specific immune response in the body.

INOVIO's DNA medicines deliver optimized plasmids directly into cells intramuscularly or intradermally using INOVIO's proprietary hand-held smart device called CELLECTRA. The CELLECTRA device uses a brief electrical pulse to reversibly open small pores in the cell to allow the plasmids to enter, overcoming a key limitation of other DNA and other nucleic acid approaches, such as mRNA. Once inside the cell, the DNA plasmids enable the cell to produce the targeted antigen. The antigen is processed naturally in the cell and triggers the desired T cell and antibody-mediated immune responses. Administration with the CELLECTRA device ensures that the DNA medicine is efficiently delivered directly into the body's cells, where it can go to work to drive an immune response. INOVIO's DNA medicines do not interfere with or change in any way an individual's own DNA. The advantages of INOVIO's DNA medicine platform are how fast DNA medicines can be designed and manufactured; the stability of the products, which do not require freezing in storage and transport; and the robust immune response, safety profile, and tolerability that have been demonstrated in clinical trials.

With more than 2,000 patients receiving INOVIO investigational DNA medicines in more than 7,000 applications across a range of clinical trials, INOVIO has a strong track record of rapidly generating DNA medicine candidates with potential to meet urgent global health needs.

About INOVIO

INOVIO is a biotechnology company focused on rapidly bringing to market precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people from infectious diseases, cancer, and diseases associated with HPV. INOVIO is the first and only company to have clinically demonstrated that a DNA medicine can be delivered directly into cells in the body via a proprietary smart device to produce a robust and tolerable immune response. Specifically, INOVIO's lead candidate VGX-3100, currently in Phase 3 trials for precancerous cervical dysplasia, destroyed and cleared high-risk HPV 16 and 18 in a Phase 2b clinical trial. High-risk HPV is responsible for 70% of cervical cancer, 91% of anal cancer, and 69% of vulvar cancer. Also in development are programs targeting HPV-related cancers and a rare HPV-related disease, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP); non-HPV-related cancers glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and prostate cancer; as well as externally funded infectious disease DNA vaccine development programs in Zika, Lassa fever, Ebola, HIV, and coronaviruses associated with MERS and COVID-19 diseases. Partners and collaborators include Advaccine, ApolloBio Corporation, AstraZeneca, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND)/Department of Defense (DOD), GeneOne Life Science/VGXI, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Ology Bioservices, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Plumbline Life Sciences, Regeneron, Richter-Helm BioLogics, Roche/Genentech, University of Pennsylvania, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and The Wistar Institute. INOVIO also is a proud recipient of 2020 Women on Boards "W" designation recognizing companies with more than 20% women on their board of directors. For more information, visit http://www.inovio.com.

CONTACTS:

Media: Jeff Richardson, 267-440-4211, [emailprotected]Investors: Ben Matone, 484-362-0076, [emailprotected]

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop DNA medicines, our expectations regarding our research and development programs, including the planned initiation and conduct of preclinical studiesand clinical trials, and the availability and timing of data from those studies and trials. Actual events or results may differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies, clinical trials, product development programs and commercialization activities and outcomes, the availability of funding to support continuing research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA medicines, our ability to support our pipeline of DNA medicine products, the ability of our collaborators to attain development and commercial milestones for products we license and product sales that will enable us to receive future payments and royalties, the adequacy of our capital resources, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions targeted by us or our collaborators, including alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost effective than any therapy or treatment that we and our collaborators hope to develop, issues involving product liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide us with meaningful protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether we can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments of our technology by potential corporate or other partners or collaborators, capital market conditions, the impact of government healthcare proposals andother factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 and other filings we make from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurance that any product candidate in our pipeline will be successfully developed, manufactured or commercialized, that final results of clinical trials will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market products, or that any of the forward-looking information provided herein will be proven accurate. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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INOVIO Receives Orphan Drug Designation From US FDA for DNA Medicine INO-3107 To Treat Rare Disease Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP) -...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Regenerative medicine focuses on using the bodys own repairing mechanisms to heal damaged tissues or organs. Sanford Health is one of the national leaders in this branch of medicine, and their expertise caught the attention of the NFL Alumni Association.

Staying healthy and finding pain relief is a common concern for NFL players once their playing days are over.

Personally Ive had 25 plus surgeries. So Ive been in the regenerative space personally trying to find solutions for the last six years, NFL Alumni Member Billy Davis said.

Billy Davis, along with Kyle Richardson have been a part of the NFL Alumni Association for years, and have dedicated their time to providing members with an understanding of available health care options.

When you get to be the 40, and 50, and 60 years of age, you start to look at okay, what can I do to stave off that surgery. What are the therapies that help me with pain, NFL Alumni Member Kyle Richardson said.

One therapy that has some potential to address those issues is regenerative medicine.

So were taking the components of the cells that have that type of ability to fix an injury, and maybe relocating them into a shoulder tear, or to a knee pain, Dr. David Pearce said.

Sanford Health has conducted two FDA-approved clinical trials using stem cells to treat injuries in the shoulders and legs.

The next steps will be that well be able to offer this to individuals as a standard of a care, as an alternative to surgical procedures, Dr. Pearce said.

Its the therapys potential thats giving the NFL Alumni Association some hope moving forward.

It was essential that I knew that other guys were experiencing the same things Im doing. Experiencing the same deficits, and same challenges. This was just a great platform for an option for guys to have and we wanted to get with the best, and I think we found it with Sanford Health, Davis said.

Davis and Richardson were in Sioux Falls for the last three days, learning about the science of the medicine as well as Sanford Health.

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Sanfords Regenerative Medicine research draws interest of NFL Alumni Association - KELOLAND.com

UPDATE:

BARBER COUNTYThe Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Medicine Lodge Police Department, and the Barber County Sheriffs Office are requesting the publics help to locate a person of interest connected to a homicide that occurred in Medicine Lodge.

Clinton W. Rogers, 34, stole a dark red 1995 Chevrolet Camaro with t-tops in Kingman County on Sunday. It is possible that the Camaro is still bearing Kansas license plate, 870JUK. Rogers is no longer traveling in the white F-150 pickup truck.

BARBER COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Medicine Lodge Police Department, and the Barber County Sheriffs Office are requesting the publics help to locate a person of interest connected to a homicide that occurred in Medicine Lodge on Monday.

Authorities are looking for Clinton Wayne Rogers and his 2002 white Ford extended cab F-150 pickup truck with possible Kansas license plate, 870JUK.

Clinton Rogers is a 34-year-old white male with hazel eyes. He is 6 ft. 1 in. tall, and weighs approximately 270 lbs.

Rogers is a white male, 34 years of age. He is 6 ft. 1 in. tall, and weighs approximately 270 lbs. He has hazel eyes and brown hair. Rogers has ties to Barton County and it is believed he may be in the area.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Clint Rogers, or sees his white F-150 pickup truck, is asked to call the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME or call 911. Tips can also be submitted online by clickinghere.

The investigation is ongoing.

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KBI requesting publics help to locate man connected to Medicine Lodge homicide, new lead on suspects vehicle - KSN-TV

In the race against COVID-19, biopharmaceutical firms Regeneron and Sanofi have launched clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of their drug, Kevzara, in treating the virus' life-threatening immune complications.

Interestingly, Kevzara isn't new; it was initially approved by the FDA in 2017 as an anti-inflammatory treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

The launch of new trials for this drug provides hope that a treatment for COVID-19 -- and a host of other serious diseases -- might already be sitting behind your pharmacist's counter. But discovering fresh ways to utilize existing drugs requires policies that encourage researchers to look for them in the first place.

Scientists have been discovering new uses for old medicines for decades. These new uses are what researchers call a new "indication."

Recently, scientists have found that several colon-cancer drugs can slow the progress of macular degeneration -- an eye condition that gradually leads to blindness. Close to 11 million Americans suffer from macular degeneration. About half of all patients treated with the new indication can see well enough to drive after five years.

Moreover, Harvard Medical School researchers are exploring the use of a common vaccine for tuberculosis in treating type 1 diabetes, an affliction with which 1.25 million U.S. residents live.

These examples notwithstanding, the potential for discovering new indications for already-approved drugs remains mostly untapped. The FDA has approved more than 20,000 prescription drug products for marketing. Any could have powerful new therapeutic applications.

Thankfully, if these new indications are out there, there's a high likelihood that U.S. biopharmaceutical researchers will find them. That's because America's robust intellectual-property laws reward innovators who invest the time and resources needed to discover whether drugs can be put to new uses.

Right now, drug makers that find a new application for an existing drug can secure a "method-of-use" patent. This new patent recognizes that the indication is completely new and the company may have exclusive rights to sell the drug for that additional use once it secures FDA approval.

In this way, method-of-use patents create a financial incentive for drug companies to spend hundreds of millions of dollars exploring new indications. Without the ability to patent new methods of use, this follow-on drug development would be a money-losing endeavor.

Unfortunately, method-of-use patents are under scrutiny from some lawmakers in Washington. They claim that drug firms use these IP protections to "game" the system and force patients to pay more for new therapies.

Such assertions fail to take into account that method-of-use patents protect only the new use of the drug, not the drug itself.

Without these IP protections, some of the greatest examples of drug repurposing would have never been possible. That includes AZT -- the very first drug approved for AIDS. The medicine, created in the 1960s, was originally intended for cancer patients.

Years later, when researchers discovered AZT's potential for treating AIDS, the drug firm Burroughs-Wellcome secured a follow-on patent, enabling the company to invest the time and money required to turn AZT into an FDA-approved drug for AIDS.

The next breakthrough cure might be a drug that's already in medicine cabinets across the country. But we need robust IP protections to help these novel indications come to fruition.

Christopher Holman is a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, where his primary research focus lies at the intersection of intellectual property and biotechnology. He also serves as a senior scholar at the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University

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Guest column: The next great cure might be hiding in your medicine cabinet - The Times Herald

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COVID-19 Update on Recombinant Hirudin Medicine Market Revenue and Cost Overview 2020-2026 by Manufacturers Teva Pharmaceutical, Pfizer, Pentapharm -...

After graduating from Princeton University with an undergraduate degree in anthropology, Erin Ferenchick, M.D., spent a year as a fellow for Princeton in Africa,(www.princetoninafrica.org) performing needs assessments, securing grants and supporting project implementation to address important issues like maternal-child health for the International Rescue Committee in Somaliland. She then spent two years as executive director of PiAf, which offers fellowships in public health, education, conservation, social entrepreneurship and microfinance.

"I enjoyed the work, but I realized I needed a more solid and tailored technical skill set to contribute in a sustainable and impactful way, so I went to medical school," Ferenchick said. "I chose family medicine because it gave me the broadest skill set, was the specialty most focused both on the patient and the broader community, and allowed me to leverage a career in global health. I've tried to keep one foot in the clinical world and one foot in global health, which is more focused on policy and programming. It's not always an easy balance to meet."

Ferenchick's clinical role is as an assistant clinical professor of medicine in the Center for Family and Community Medicine at her alma mater, Columbia University Medical Center. The pandemic has temporarily restricted her ability to travel regularly to New York for patient care, so she is now teaching and mentoring students and residents remotely from Geneva, where her public health role is based as a primary health care technical advisor for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.(www.theglobalfund.org)

"I have had good fortune in that Columbia values me both as a clinician and in my role as a public health advocate and the larger work I do in health systems strengthening," she said.

With the Global Fund, Ferenchick's role involves supporting countries' strategic investments in building resilient and sustainable systems for health with an emphasis on strengthening primary care to improve health outcomes for HIV, TB and malaria. Before taking her current role in 2018, she had worked as a long-term consultant not only for the Global Fund but also the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Ferenchick will share her insights on working with governments and global health financing institutions, including the Global Fund, during the virtual Global Health Summit Sept. 16-18.

"There are a lot of family physicians interested in global medicine, and they find opportunities for short-term exchange programs or mentoring and teaching roles," she said. "But I don't think many are fully aware of the possibilities of engaging with these larger institutions."

The Global Fund invests more than $4 billion a year to support programs in more than 100 countries. For example, Ferenchick worked on an adolescent health project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that allowed health care workers to participate in a monthly collaborative learning experience aimed at strengthening their skill sets specific to caring for adolescent patients with respectful and clinically sound care. The Global Fund provided financial resources and technical support for the implementation of the project as part of its larger scope of work on reducing the vulnerability of adolescents, particularly girls and young women, to HIV. The World Health Organization will be conducting an evaluation of the project to assess its impact in the coming months, she said.

Doing such work, Ferenchick said, requires both clinical and public health perspectives.

"Family medicine is very rooted in the principles of people-centered care," she said. "Family physicians have an important voice in steering the direction we invest in both domestic and global health, specifically in primary health care, to meet patients' complex and many needs. COVID-19 has shown us the importance of primary health care and what happens when primary health care systems are weak."

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Family Medicine Is Key to Her Career in Global Health - AAFP News

"The future of fitness requires adaptability. Taking Optima to an all-virtual format offers an opportunity to connect our community with the tools and knowledge to succeed in this rapidly changing world," said Laurie McCartney, President of NASM and AFAA. "By bringing together the brightest minds in the fitness industry, and using the latest technology, we will connect our trainers and instructors with insights and real-world strategies that will elevate their expertise."

The four-day event includes over 70 educational sessions, guided workouts, and valuable opportunities for the fitness community to network with thought-leaders, sponsors, and exhibitors in a state-of-the-art virtual environment.

Randy Hetrick, the founder of TRX and a former U.S. Navy Seal, will serve as the keynote speaker. As the creator of the versatile and portable TRX suspension training system, Hetrick is a leading pioneer in virtual training.

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The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) Announce All-Virtual 2020 Optima Conference...

Renowned cardiac surgeon Gerald M. Lemole, MED 62, and Emily Jane Lemole have established the Lemole Center for Integrated Lymphatics Research at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine with a transformational donation of $5 million.

Temple University is home to world-class research that improves the health and lives of people every day. This very generous gift by Dr. Gerald Lemole and Emily Jane Lemole adds another vital area of research, said Temple University President Richard M. Englert. I am deeply grateful to the Lemoles, and on behalf of everyone at Temple University, want to thank them for their thoughtfulness and generosity.

A part of the immune system, the lymphatic system is a network of organs and nodes that help the body regulate fluid and fight illness.

The Lemole Center will serve as an interdisciplinary hub to further understanding of the lymphatic system and the part it plays in cardiac, neural and vascular diseases. By integrating basic science and clinical research, the center will promote the translation of new knowledge from the laboratory to the bedside, where it can inform patient treatment and care.

We are grateful to the administration of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and congratulate them for their visionary approach to lymphatics research, which has always been studied adjunctively as an access route for other systems rather than the unifying, facilitating, actively integrated bedrock system that it is, said Lemole.

Led by Michael Autieri, associate director and professor in the Cardiovascular Research Center, the new collaborative center will bring together experts from around the region, nation and world to share scientific breakthroughs.

Since his early days as a doctor, Lemole has been fascinated by the lymphatic system and its role in overall health and wellness. He is the author of many publications on lymphatics for both a professional and general audience, including The Healing Diet: A Total Health Program to Purify Your Lymph System and Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease, Arthritis and Cancer.

In 1968, Lemole was part of the team that performed the first heart transplant in the U.S. The following year, he completed the first coronary bypass in the tri-state area and was named chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Temple. In 1975, at age 38, with his appointment to full professor of surgery at Temple, he became one of the youngest in the country to hold such a position.

Lemole went on to serve as chief of surgery at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in New Jersey, chief of cardiovascular surgery at the Medical Center of Delaware, and medical director at Christiana Cares Preventive Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute and Center for Integrative Health.

Emily Jane Asplundh Lemole is a former trustee of the Fund for West Chester University of Pennsylvania, a former commissioner of Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania, and a minister in the Swedenborgian Church of North America.

A combination of Dr. and Mrs. Lemoles forward-looking philanthropy and leadership has led to this watershed moment at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, said John M. Daly, the Harry C. Donahoo Professor of Surgery and interim dean at Katz. This type of transformative philanthropy shapes institutions and accelerates science.

Long-time friends of the medical school, the couple previously established the Lemole Lecture Series in Integrative Medicine Fund and named the Dr. Gerald M. and Emily Jane Lemole Executive Conference Room at the Medical Education and Research Building.

Dr. and Mrs. Lemole have been an integral part of Temples story for decades, and this extraordinary relationship has led to a transformative philanthropic investment in the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, said Nina Weisbord, chief advancement officer for Temple University Health System and assistant dean at Katz. We are incredibly grateful for their enduring commitment, vision, partnership and support.

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Alumnus donates $5 million to the Lewis Katz School of Medicine - Temple University News

QUICK MEDICATION TIP FROM ACTIVE DAILY LIVING: If you use a pill organizer, always keep one or two pills in the original bottle. It can be used to remind you what the pill is. Also, if you drop a pill on the floor, you can match it to the bottle pill, so you know what it is. If you found this quick tip helpful and would like to access more tips like this, please visit the Generations website at http://www.generationsnetwork.org and click on the Active Daily Living link on the home page. Active Daily Living offers FREE, personalized advice to enhance health, independence and aging in place. Here you can access videos, articles and resources that are tailored to your needs on a variety of topics that focus on older adults and caregivers.

GENERATIONS IS LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS: We welcome individuals of all ages who want to use their life experience and skills to make a difference in our community, regardless of the amount of time that they have to give. Joining does not require a fee and there are no restrictions based on education, income, age, race, experience, citizenship, gender or disability. We have over 40 active volunteer stations (based on community need) offering a wide variety of assignments in nutrition, education, health care, history, socialization, etc. Want more information? Please contact our office at (812)888-5880 or toll free at (800)742-9002. You may also reach us by e-mail at generations@vinu.edu. Come join us!

INDIANA LAUNCHES BE WELL CRISIS HELPLINE TO SUPPORT HOOSIERS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RECOVERY: Counselors and resources now available 24/7 at Indiana 211. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration has announced the launch of the Be Well Crisis Helpline, a confidential resource available through Indiana 211 that will allow Hoosiers to call and speak with a trained counselor 24/7. The free Be Well Crisis Helpline was established by FSSAs Division of Mental Health and Addiction in direct response to the elevated levels of stress and anxiety Hoosiers are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indiana 211 is a free service that connects Hoosiers with assistance and answers from thousands of health and human service resources across the state quickly, easily and confidentially. Earlier this month, Indiana 211 officially became part of FSSA, helping enable specialized programs such as the Be Well Crisis Helpline as needed. By calling 2-1-1 (and selecting 3), callers will connect with an experienced and compassionate counselor specially trained to help with issues triggered or worsened by COVID-19, said Jay Chaudhary, J.D., DMHA director. The trained counselors will be able to listen, provide support and promote personal resiliency.

The Be Well Crisis Helpline is funded by a Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In Indiana the program becomes part of the states new Be Well Indiana initiative. Additional information about the mental health resources available to Hoosiers is available at BeWellIndiana.org.

GENERATIONS MAGAZINE: Our magazine is geared toward adults in pre-retirement and retirement years and promotes active aging and preventive health. It is published three times a year and is free to subscribers. All we need is your name and address. If you would like to receive future copies of the magazine, contact Brenda Hancock at 812-888-5146 or bhancock@vinu.edu.

Generations, Area 13 Agency on Aging & Disability, is a program of Vincennes Universitys Community Services Division. Our agency connects individuals and caregivers to community resources and options for long-term care and in-home services. For more information, call 1-800-742-9002 or 812-888-5880 or visit our website at http://www.generationsnetwork.org

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Generations News: Medicine tips and more - Washington Times Herald

By MO CRANKER on July 31, 2020.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com

With the province announcing more than $1 billion in funding for provincial municipalities earlier this week, Medicine Hats mayor is hoping to make use of the money.

The funding is a mixture of federal and provincial money and is aimed at building shovel-ready infrastructure projects starting this year. It is also there to help with municipal operating costs during the COVID-19 pandemic and to help support public transportation costs.

I think like every other municipality, well take what we can get, said Mayor Ted Clugston. We dont have the exact number yet, but were about 1.5 or 1.6 per cent of the population of Alberta. We expect to get about $8 million for capital and about $4 million for operating.

Again, we dont have the numbers yet, but those are a rough estimate of what we could be looking at in Medicine Hat.

Clugston says there are a lot of projects that could make use of the added funding.

Theres a number of capital projects that would benefit from this, he said. One I can think of is the water treatment plant upgrades.

On the operation side, weve been running transit at a loss and various other things at losses. Weve had to close down facilities like the leisure centre and the library, and theres been a lot of revenue lost in not having them open.

Were happy and were thankful for this funding.

Clugston hopes to see the money dispersed fairly.

A big concern for me is that Calgary and Edmonton havent looked after their finances as well as Medicine Hat has, he said. I dont think that would be a fair reason for them to get more than their fair share just because theyre in more trouble than we are.

I just hope Medicine Hat is able to get our per-capita amount, hopefully like everyone else does.

Clugston says the city was asked to submit a list of capital projects right at the beginning of the pandemic and that he believes funding is for projects that havent started yet.

I think the province is looking for projects that need some money to get past their tipping point, he said. The best example I have is the water treatment plant, because we need to do more with it and its very expensive.

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Clugston hopes to cash in on government infrastructure funds - Medicine Hat News

The Sox arrived at Citi Field having lost four consecutive games, their pitching staff in shambles. Two of those losses had come against the Mets at Fenway Park on Monday and Tuesday.

It looked like more of the same when Nate Eovaldi allowed a run in the first inning.

But Eovaldi hung in there against the imposing Jake deGrom and the Sox scored three runs in the eighth inning and held on to steal a 6-5 victory.

One game will not fix the rotation or turn the season around. But one game did prove this team is capable of fighting back and thats where it has to start.

deGrom was throwing triple-digit fastballs and vanishing changeups early in the game, running his streak of scoreless innings to 30 before Rafael Devers and Mitch Moreland had back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning to produce a run.

Moreland then made his way around on two wild pitches, not his usual way to find the plate.

After the Mets took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning, Christian Vazquez belted a no-doubt home run in the seventh.

It only got more interesting from there. Sox manager Ron Roenicke, the proverbial good guy in a bad spot, went to Josh Osich in the bottom of the seventh. Osich was the opener on Monday and gave up a two-run homer to Michael Conforto, who was due up fourth in the inning.

When two hitters reached, it looked like a mistake. But Osich got Conforto to ground out. Heath Hembree then came in and struck out pinch hitter J.D. Davis on three pitches.

Roenicke continued to push buttons in the eighth inning. He pinch hit Kevin Pillar for Jackie Bradley Jr. against lefty Justin Wilson.

Pillar reached on a bloop single. Xander Bogaerts, who was too banged up to start, pinch hit and drew a walk. He also was too sore to run and Jonathan Arauz replaced him at first base.

(Who is that, you ask? Arauz is a 21-year-old Rule 5 pick from Houston.)

Andrew Benintendi, who to that point was 1 for 18 this season, put down a sacrifice bunt. The Mets intentionally walked J.D. Martinez to load the bases and Wilson struck out Devers.

Roenicke stuck with Moreland against a lefty and he drove in a run with a swinging bunt. When Vazquez poked a single to right, the Sox had a 6-3 lead.

Matt Barnes allowed a home run by Yoenis Cespedes leading off the bottom of the eighth inning before Robinson Cano singled. But he escaped further trouble when Jose Peraza started a double play that Arauz confidently turned with his bare hand.

Brandon Workman, in his first save situation of the season, loaded the bases with no outs. But he allowed only one run, somehow surviving a 30-pitch inning by getting Cano on a soft liner to end a game that lasted three hours and 44 minutes.

[Workman] was sweating a lot but he managed to get the job done, Vazquez said.

Roenicke acknowledged he managed the game with a sense of urgency, trying to find every advantage he could. In a 60-game season, a 1-4 start was essentially an emergency.

We need to do what we can to win some games, Roenicke said. Get that good feeling back, guys will relax and well start playing better baseball. Whatever we could do I felt we needed to do.

After a month of practicing and playing at Fenway Park, Roenicke and several of the players suggested that a new location helped. But there also was a definite sense that enough was enough after the bad homestand.

This one was big for us, Eovaldi said. Hopefully it gets the ball rolling.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.

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In these times, this comeback win was good medicine for the Red Sox - The Boston Globe

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Six WVU Medicine hospitals four member hospitals and two managed hospitals have been recognized in U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals 2020-21. This years rankings also include the WVU Medicine Urology Programs fourth consecutive national ranking and WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospitals designation as theNo. 1 hospital in the state.

In addition to urology, which was ranked 40th in the country, Ruby Memorial Hospitals nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics and pulmonology and lung surgery programs were recognized as high performing specialties.

The six WVU Medicine hospitals designated as high performing in the procedures and conditions category are Berkeley Medical Center, Camden Clark Medical Center,Ruby Memorial,Uniontown Hospital, United Hospital Center andWheeling Hospital.

We are thrilled to have more specialties and more hospitals recognized by U.S. News and World Report. These rankings validate the strides we have made in strengthening our system and the care we provide throughout it, Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System, said. Of course, none of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of our employees, and we thank them for making WVU Medicine the world-class health care system that it is.

The annual Best Hospitals rankings and ratings, now in the 31st year, are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or for common elective procedures.

For the 2020-21 rankings and ratings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 medical centers nationwide in 26 specialties, 10 procedures and conditions. In the 16 specialty areas, 134 hospitals were ranked in at least one specialty. In rankings by state and metro area, U.S. News recognized best regional hospitals based on high performing rankings across multiple areas of care.

For more than 30 years, U.S. News & World Report has been helping patients, along with the help of their physicians, identify the best hospitals in an array of specialties, procedures and conditions, said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. The hospitals that rise to the top of our rankings and ratings have deep medical expertise and each has built a track record of delivering good outcomes for patients.

The U.S. News Best Hospitals methodologies in most areas of care are based largely on objective measures such as risk-adjusted survival and discharge-to-home rates, volume and quality of nursing, among other care-related indicators.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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WVU Medicine hospitals earn recognition through U.S. News & World Report - Cumberland Times-News

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pennsylvania, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --INOVIO (NASDAQ: INO) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted orphan drug designation for INO-3107, its DNA medicine being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 trial for treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP).

RRP is a rare disease caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11 infections. RRP causes noncancerous tumor growths leading to life-threatening airway obstructions and can progress to cancer in rare cases. Currently, the disease is incurable and is mostly treated by surgery to remove the tumor growths to temporarily restore the airway. The tumor almost always recurs and the surgery must be repeated, often multiple times a year. RRP can severely impact the quality of life for those living with the disease.

Orphan drug designation is intended to advance drug development for rare diseases. FDA grants orphan drug status to medicines intended for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of rare diseases or conditions. In the United States, an orphan disease is defined as a disease or condition with a prevalence of less than 200,000 patients in the United States annually. This orphan drug designation from the FDA qualifies INO-3107 for various development incentives, including a tax credit on expenditures incurred in clinical studies, a waiver of the New Drug Application (NDA) fee, research grant awarded by the FDA, and most importantly, 7 years of U.S. market exclusivity upon approval for the treatment of RRP.

Ami Shah Brown, Ph.D., MPH, INOVIO's Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, said, "Receiving FDA's orphan drug designation for INO-3107 is an important milestone in the development of INOVIO's DNA medicine for this rare disease and clearly underscores the importance of addressing the unmet medical need for this debilitating condition."

The open-label, multicenter INO-3107 Phase 1/2 trial is currently open to enrollment to recruit 63 subjects in the U.S. and will evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of INO-3107 in subjects with HPV 6 and/or 11-associated RRP who have required at least two surgical interventions per year for the past three years for the removal of associated papilloma(s). For this study, adult subjects will first undergo surgical removal of their papilloma(s) and then receive four doses of INO-3107, one every three weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint will be a doubling or more in the time between surgical interventions following the first dose of INO-3107 relative to the frequency prior to study therapy.

Last year, INOVIO published data from its pilot clinical study of INO-3106 (DNA medicine candidate targeting HPV 6-caused RRP) in the scientific journal Vaccines (MDPI). Study results demonstrated that INO-3106 generated immunogenicity and engagement and expansion of an HPV 6-specific cellular response, including cytotoxic T cells. The paper also showed that INOVIO's immunotherapy allowed two out of two patients who previously required approximately two surgeries per year for several years to manage this disease to delay the need for surgery to a robust degree; one patient was able to delay surgery for over a year and a half (584 days surgery-free) and a second remained surgery-free for over two and a half years (over 915 days surgery-free).

About RRP

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a rare disease (estimated at 15,000 active cases in the U.S.) that is characterized by the growth of tumors in the respiratory tract caused by the human papillomavirus. Although benign, papillomas can cause severe, even life-threatening airway obstruction and respiratory complications. A distinguishing aspect of this disease is the tendency for the papilloma to recur after surgical procedures to remove them. Left untreated, if RRP develops in the lungs, affected individuals can potentially experience recurrent pneumonia, chronic lung disease (bronchiectasis) and, ultimately, progressive pulmonary failure. In rare cases papillomas can become cancerous (malignant transformation) developing into squamous cell carcinoma. Additional symptoms of RRP can include hoarse voice, difficulty in sleeping and swallowing, and chronic coughing. RRP symptoms are usually more severe in children than in adults. In children, the disorder is most often diagnosed at or around the age of four years. In adults, the disorder occurs most often in the third or fourth decade.

Story continues

About INOVIO's DNA Medicines Platform

INOVIO has 15 DNA medicine clinical programs currently in development focused on HPV-associated diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases, including coronaviruses associated with MERS and COVID-19 diseases being developed under grants from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the U.S. Department of Defense. DNA medicines are composed of optimized DNA plasmids, which are small circles of double-stranded DNA that are synthesized or reorganized by a computer sequencing technology and designed to produce a specific immune response in the body.

INOVIO's DNA medicines deliver optimized plasmids directly into cells intramuscularly or intradermally using INOVIO's proprietary hand-held smart device called CELLECTRA. The CELLECTRA device uses a brief electrical pulse to reversibly open small pores in the cell to allow the plasmids to enter, overcoming a key limitation of other DNA and other nucleic acid approaches, such as mRNA. Once inside the cell, the DNA plasmids enable the cell to produce the targeted antigen. The antigen is processed naturally in the cell and triggers the desired T cell and antibody-mediated immune responses. Administration with the CELLECTRA device ensures that the DNA medicine is efficiently delivered directly into the body's cells, where it can go to work to drive an immune response. INOVIO's DNA medicines do not interfere with or change in any way an individual's own DNA. The advantages of INOVIO's DNA medicine platform are how fast DNA medicines can be designed and manufactured; the stability of the products, which do not require freezing in storage and transport; and the robust immune response, safety profile, and tolerability that have been demonstrated in clinical trials.

With more than 2,000 patients receiving INOVIO investigational DNA medicines in more than 7,000 applications across a range of clinical trials, INOVIO has a strong track record of rapidly generating DNA medicine candidates with potential to meet urgent global health needs.

About INOVIO

INOVIO is a biotechnology company focused on rapidly bringing to market precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people from infectious diseases, cancer, and diseases associated with HPV. INOVIO is the first and only company to have clinically demonstrated that a DNA medicine can be delivered directly into cells in the body via a proprietary smart device to produce a robust and tolerable immune response. Specifically, INOVIO's lead candidate VGX-3100, currently in Phase 3 trials for precancerous cervical dysplasia, destroyed and cleared high-risk HPV 16 and 18 in a Phase 2b clinical trial. High-risk HPV is responsible for 70% of cervical cancer, 91% of anal cancer, and 69% of vulvar cancer. Also in development are programs targeting HPV-related cancers and a rare HPV-related disease, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP); non-HPV-related cancers glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and prostate cancer; as well as externally funded infectious disease DNA vaccine development programs in Zika, Lassa fever, Ebola, HIV, and coronaviruses associated with MERS and COVID-19 diseases. Partners and collaborators include Advaccine, ApolloBio Corporation, AstraZeneca, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND)/Department of Defense (DOD), GeneOne Life Science/VGXI, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Ology Bioservices, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Plumbline Life Sciences, Regeneron, Richter-Helm BioLogics, Roche/Genentech, University of Pennsylvania, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and The Wistar Institute. INOVIO also is a proud recipient of 2020 Women on Boards "W" designation recognizing companies with more than 20% women on their board of directors. For more information, visit http://www.inovio.com.

CONTACTS:

Media: Jeff Richardson, 267-440-4211, jrichardson@inovio.comInvestors: Ben Matone, 484-362-0076, ben.matone@inovio.com

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop DNA medicines, our expectations regarding our research and development programs, including the planned initiation and conduct of preclinical studiesand clinical trials, and the availability and timing of data from those studies and trials. Actual events or results may differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies, clinical trials, product development programs and commercialization activities and outcomes, the availability of funding to support continuing research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA medicines, our ability to support our pipeline of DNA medicine products, the ability of our collaborators to attain development and commercial milestones for products we license and product sales that will enable us to receive future payments and royalties, the adequacy of our capital resources, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions targeted by us or our collaborators, including alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost effective than any therapy or treatment that we and our collaborators hope to develop, issues involving product liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to them will provide us with meaningful protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether we can finance or devote other significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments of our technology by potential corporate or other partners or collaborators, capital market conditions, the impact of government healthcare proposals andother factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 and other filings we make from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurance that any product candidate in our pipeline will be successfully developed, manufactured or commercialized, that final results of clinical trials will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market products, or that any of the forward-looking information provided herein will be proven accurate. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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INOVIO Receives Orphan Drug Designation From U.S. FDA for DNA Medicine INO-3107 To Treat Rare Disease Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP) -...