We are investigating Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (INO) (“Inovio” or the “Company”) for potential violations of the federal securities laws.
On March 3, 2020, Inovio issued a press release entitled “Inovio Accelerates Timeline for COVID-19 DNA Vaccine INO-4800.” The press release quoted Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio’s President and Chief Financial Officer, stating that Inovio was “the only company with a Phase 2 vaccine for a related coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)” and that “[u]sing our modern DNA medicines platform, we designed our DNA vaccine INO-4800 in three hours after the publication of the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.” Then, on March 9, 2020, Citron Research stated via Twitter that the “SEC should immediately HALT this stock [i.e., Inovio] and investigate the ludicrous and dangerous claim that they designed a vaccine in 3 hours.” On this news, Inovio’s stock price fell sharply, damaging investors.