AVI BioPharma announces progress in developing Neugene against avian influenza

By Jennifer Chiou

New York, Oct. 21 - AVI BioPharma, Inc. announced demonstrated efficacy in an update on its Neugene antisense drug development program for the influenza A virus and six viral subtypes, including avian flu.

"Several of these Neugene compounds have been efficacious in early experiments and should now be considered for in vivo evaluation against [the 1918 Spanish flu] and [a subtype of avian flu]," chief executive officer Denis R. Burger said in a news release.

"AVI has a successful track record of developing antisense drug candidates against RNA viruses quickly - what we refer to as our rapid-response therapeutic platform.

"Our antiviral program has shown that we can potentially develop a Neugene antisense drug candidate for avian flu in a relatively short time frame, as we did for West Nile virus, SARS coronavirus and Ebola virus."

In initial experiments, eight Neugene antisense compounds were developed to target regions of the influenza virus genome believed to be critical to virus survival. Additional experiments showed that a single mismatch within the targeted region of the virus caused less than a 10% loss of activity of the drug, providing strong evidence that a single Neugene antisense drug could potentially shut down all the flu virus subtypes despite mutation, the company noted.

AVI BioPharma said additional clinical development efforts targeting dengue virus and Ebola virus are planned for 2006.

Portland, Ore.-based AVI BioPharma develops therapeutics using third-generation Neugene antisense drugs for cell proliferation disorders, including cardiovascular restenosis, cancer and polycystic kidney disease.

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