Sarepta Therapeutics Awarded $3.9 Million Contract by U.S. Government

Therapeutics, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a new contract for approximately $3.9 million to evaluate the feasibility of an intramuscular route of administration using AVI-7288, the Company's candidate for treatment of Marburg virus. The contract is with the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Project Manager Transformational Medical Technologies (JPM-TMT) program.

"The ability to administer drugs via an intramuscular route represents a major reduction in the logistical burden on the Warfighter, and also provides a highly practical way to treat many people quickly during an emergency," said Chris Garabedian, President and CEO. "Our ultimate goal is to provide an effective medical countermeasure for Marburg virus where none currently exists."

The new contract will allow Sarepta to evaluate the tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of intramuscular AVI-7288. Under a separate, pre-existing contract with JPM-TMT, Sarepta is developing AVI-7288 as an intravenous formulation.

Sarepta also announced today that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is extending the period of the temporary stop-work order on the Ebola portion of the Company's pre-existing contract with JPM-TMT for advanced development of therapeutics for both Marburg virus and Ebola virus. By September 30, 2012, the DoD will either: (1) terminate the Ebola portion of the contract; (2) cancel the stop-work order; or (3) again extend the stop-work order period. On August 2, 2012, Sarepta received a temporary stop-work order with respect to its Ebola program due to recently imposed funding constraints at the DoD.