AVI BioPharma Manufactures West Nile Virus Antisense Drug; New GMP Manufacturing Facility Produces Drug for Clinical Trials.Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 2003 AVI BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:AVII)(Nasdaq:AVIIW)(Nasdaq:AVIIZ), today announced that it has completed manufacturing of several lots of its West Nile virus West Nile virus, microorganism and the infection resulting from it, which typically produces no symptoms or a flulike condition. The virus is a flavivirus and is related to a number of viruses that cause encephalitis. NEUGENE (R)antisense antisense, DNA or RNA manipulated in a laboratory so that its components (nucleotides) form a complementary copy of normal, or "sense," messenger RNA (mRNA; see nucleic acid). drug, AVI-4020, at its new manufacturing facility in Corvallis, Ore. AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) A Windows multimedia video format from Microsoft. It interleaves standard waveform audio and digital video frames (bitmaps) to provide reduced animation at 15 fps at 160x120x8 resolution. Audio is 11,025Hz, 8-bit samples. has filed an Investigational New Drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and intends to initiate a clinical trial with AVI-4020 in West Nile virus patients this summer. "Our ability to manufacture NEUGENE drugs in our own facilities provides us with substantial control over the timing and cost of producing experimental drugs for use in clinical trials," said Dwight Weller, Ph.D., senior vice president of chemistry and manufacturing at AVI. "Building and qualifying a manufacturing facility represents the culmination of our intensive efforts to assume hands-on responsibility for manufacturing and product development of our third-generation antisense drugs." Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. Burger, Ph.D., AVI's chief executive officer, added that "This advance represents a substantial step in AVI's progress toward our goal of bringing NEUGENE antisense drugs into the market place. The efforts of our employees in making this happen should be applauded." About AVI BioPharma AVI BioPharma develops therapeutic products for the treatment of life-threatening diseases using two technology platforms: third-generation NEUGENE antisense drugs and cancer immunotherapy. AVI's lead NEUGENE antisense compound is designed to target cardiovascular restenosis, cancer, polycystic kidney disease Polycystic Kidney Disease Definition Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is one of the most common of all life-threatening human genetic disorders. and other cell proliferation disorders. In addition to targeting specific genes in the body, AVI's antiviral program uses NEUGENE antisense compounds to target single-stranded RNA viruses RNA viruses, n See 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 and colorectal 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 The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and 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 FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. 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. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion