Inovio Rises As CEO Says Zika Vaccine Could Enter Human Testing This Year

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) shares are rising again this morning as the Zika virus continues to gain attention and its CEO says the company is “ahead of the pack” in developing a vaccine to combat the disease.

YEAR END TESTING POSSIBLE: Joseph Kim, CEO of Inovio, said making a vaccine available by the end of this year is aggressive, but possible, according to Reuters, which quoted Kim as saying, “I believe this will be the first to go into human testing. We believe we’re ahead of the pack in the race for a Zika vaccine.”

WHAT’S NOTABLE: The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan, said the Zika virus, which has been linked to neurological ailments, especially in fetuses and newborns, is “now spreading explosively” in the Americas. WHO now predicts that Zika could infect as many as 4M people in the Americas.

ANOTHER TO WATCH: Cerus (CERS) is also at work on combating Zika. A study, partially funded by Cerus, showed that amotosalen combined with UVA light inactivates Zika virus in fresh-frozen plasma, according to an earlier report.

PRICE ACTION: Inovio shares, which gained over 7.5% yesterday, are up another 9% to $6.30 in pre-market trading.