Nature Medicine Publishes AVI BioPharma Preclinical Studies
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AVI BioPharma, Inc. has announced the publication online in Nature Medicine of new preclinical data demonstrating that AVI-6002 and AVI-6003, the respective lead therapeutic candidates against Ebola and Marburg viruses, both employing AVI's advanced PMOplus™ chemistry, provide post exposure efficacy in non-human primates.
Treatment of Ebola virus-infected primates with AVI-6002 led to 60% survival, and treatment of Marburg-infected primates with AVI-6003 conferred 100% survival, compared to control groups where both viruses were universally lethal. In addition to survival, AVI-6002 and AVI-6003 demonstrated improvements in levels of viremia, harmful inflammatory indicators and measurements of virus induced liver damage.
The work was a collaborative effort between AVI BioPharma and scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the Department of Defense's (DoD) lead medical research laboratory for biological defense. All preclinical studies were conducted at USAMRIID, which has the DoD's only Biosafety Level 4, or maximum containment, capability - essential for studying the Ebola and Marburg viruses.
"These studies provide further evidence of the potential of our advanced PMOplus™ chemistry, coupled with our RNA-based technologies, as a unique and important platform for the research and development of novel anti-infective therapeutics," commented J. David Boyle II, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of AVI BioPharma. "These results, as well as results from our other anti-infective therapeutic programs targeting influenza and dengue viruses, are very encouraging and reinforce our commitment to the development of innovative anti-infective therapeutics utilizing our RNA-based technologies and leading PMO chemistry expertise."
Treatment of Ebola virus-infected primates with AVI-6002 led to 60% survival, and treatment of Marburg-infected primates with AVI-6003 conferred 100% survival, compared to control groups where both viruses were universally lethal. In addition to survival, AVI-6002 and AVI-6003 demonstrated improvements in levels of viremia, harmful inflammatory indicators and measurements of virus induced liver damage.
The work was a collaborative effort between AVI BioPharma and scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the Department of Defense's (DoD) lead medical research laboratory for biological defense. All preclinical studies were conducted at USAMRIID, which has the DoD's only Biosafety Level 4, or maximum containment, capability - essential for studying the Ebola and Marburg viruses.
"These studies provide further evidence of the potential of our advanced PMOplus™ chemistry, coupled with our RNA-based technologies, as a unique and important platform for the research and development of novel anti-infective therapeutics," commented J. David Boyle II, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of AVI BioPharma. "These results, as well as results from our other anti-infective therapeutic programs targeting influenza and dengue viruses, are very encouraging and reinforce our commitment to the development of innovative anti-infective therapeutics utilizing our RNA-based technologies and leading PMO chemistry expertise."
