Inovio Pharmaceuticals Completes Acquisition Of BioJect Medical Technologies

On Monday, Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) announced that it completed the acquisition of biotech company BioJect Medical Technologies. Inoviopaid $1.2 million in cash, and approximately $4.3 million with its own common stock to acquire it. It took only a few months to complete, as the initial deal was announced back in March of this year. 

Inovio is developing vaccines for a multitude of diseases such as cervical cancer, prostate cancer, Hepatitis C, and Hepatitis B, just to name a few. Currently Inovio's synthetic DNA vaccine technology relies on its CELLECTRA electroporation device. This electroporation device is responsible for opening up the T-cells so that Inovio's DNA vaccine tech can get in and do its job.

But the company intends to improve upon this concept by using a device that is needle-free, thus the acquisition of BioJect Medical Technologies. BioJect's technology doesn't use a needle at all, in fact, it uses high pressure gas or springs to move the liquid into the skin rapidly. Such a technology would be important to avoid serious adverse events typically extrapolated with needles such as skin reactions, burns, and other potential problems. Acquiring that technology is a good move for Inovio, though it will probably be awhile before it can use this technology with its current Synthetic DNA products.