AVI BioPharma Expands Management Team.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004

AVI BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:AVII), announced today the appointment of Peter D. O'Hanley, Ph.D., M.D., as senior vice president of clinical development and regulatory affairs, and R. Ray Cummings as vice president of business development.

"Peter and Ray each bring tremendous skills and extensive experience to AVI," said Denis R. Burger, Ph.D., chief executive officer of AVI. "We look forward to their direct contributions to our top priorities for 2004: continued clinical development success and increased partnership opportunities. Peter and Ray have impressive backgrounds, including negotiating large partnership agreements, designing and implementing global cancer and infectious disease clinical trials, and managing regulatory affairs."

Dr. O'Hanley previously served as vice president of clinical development at Maxygen, Inc., where he was responsible for clinical trial design, strategic regulatory affairs, and implementation of infectious disease and oncology vaccine development programs. He has extensive experience in applied molecular biology and field epidemiology, developing vaccines and diagnostics, and designing methods and programs to determine the effect of intervention on clinical outcomes. Dr. O'Hanley also has broad experience with clinical development of drugs, vaccines and biologics, from Phase I through Phase IV.

Before joining Maxygen, Dr. O'Hanley was the chief scientific officer at Preventis, Inc., where he was instrumental in developing and overseeing an international HIV vaccine program. He also served as the vice president and chief scientific officer for the Anti-Infective Therapeutic & Immunology Therapeutic Groups at Quintiles, Inc. Before that, Dr. O'Hanley served as senior scientist and head of the Tropical Medicine Department in Southeast Asia for the U.S. Navy. He also has served in a variety of faculty and research positions at Stanford University School of Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, and George Washington University School of Public Health and Medicine.

Dr. O'Hanley received his Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina, and completed his master's degree in public health at the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Cummings most recently was the founder and president of Cummings Consulting LLC, where he assisted clients in developing successful business strategies and establishing partnerships for the development and commercialization of therapeutic products and pharmaceutical technologies. In this role, Mr. Cummings successfully assisted a client in negotiating multimillion-dollar collaborations with a European pharmaceutical company and a leading biotechnology company.

Before founding his consulting firm, Mr. Cummings worked as vice president of business development at Aradigm Corp., where he led the business development and licensing efforts for Aradigm's pulmonary drug delivery technology, including negotiating agreements with major pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Cummings also served as vice president of business development at Celtrix Pharmaceuticals Inc., as director of corporate licensing at G.D. Searle & Co., and as director of new business development and licensing at Immunex Corp.

Mr. Cummings received his master's degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley. He also received a master of science degree from Harvard University in biochemistry and molecular biology, and a bachelor of science degree in biological sciences from Stanford University.

About AVI BioPharma

AVI BioPharma develops therapeutic products for the treatment of life-threatening diseases using two technology platforms: third-generation NEUGENE(R) antisense drugs and cancer immunotherapy. AVI's lead NEUGENE antisense compound is designed to target cell proliferation disorders, including cardiovascular restenosis, cancer and polycystic kidney disease. In addition to targeting specific genes in the body, AVI's antiviral program uses NEUGENE antisense compounds to target single-stranded RNA viruses, including West Nile virus, SARS coronavirus, calicivirus and hepatitis C. AVI's second technology, AVICINE(R), is a therapeutic cancer vaccine with late-stage trials planned for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. More information about AVI is available on the company's Web site at http://www.avibio.com/.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements that are not historical facts contained in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the results of research and development efforts, the results of preclinical and clinical testing, the effect of regulation by the FDA and other agencies, the impact of competitive products, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties, and other risks detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.