Pennvax, a synthetic HIV vaccine being developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals (AMEX:INO), was featured in a recent report by KGO-TV San Francisco on the ABC News network.

Inovio's vaccine differs from its peers as it is synthetic - it was developed on a computer and moved into the lab. Early trials are showing initial success. The objective of the vaccine is to generate strong T-cell responses to limit the transmission ability of the HIV virus and generate strong antibody responses to prevent the viruses' ability to infect.

T-cells orchestrate the body's immune response to any disease or infection.

Speaking in the news segment, Inovio CEO, Dr Joseph Kim, said: "Because you can engineer these sequences using the full extent of our genetic engineering and human and viral genomes, we can generate a safer and hopefully more effective vaccine.

"In a 48-patient study we just completed in the US, we were able to generate the highest levels of T-cells generated by any vaccines for HIV in the last 15 years."

With a $25 million grant from the National Institute of Health, Inovio will now conduct more trials in other US cities, including San Francisco.

Separately, the University of Pennsylvania also conducted a clinical trial of Pennvax in a therapeutic setting involving adult HIV-infected patients in late 2011.

If the Pennvax trials are successful, the vaccine could be on the market in five years, at the earliest.

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, more than 30 million people have died from HIV-related causes and roughly 33.3 million are living with HIV.

Inovio is presenting at the Biotech Showcase 2012 investor conference in San Francisco, which runs until Wednesday.

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