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news.AVI BioPharma has announced that treatment of non-human primates with either the antisense drug AVI-6002 or with the antisense drug AVI-6003, resulted in a reproducible and high rate of survival in the face of an otherwise lethal infection with Ebola or Marburg virus, respectively.
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In repeated trials, monkeys were dosed with well-tolerated amounts of drug and survived a challenge of roughly 1000 times the minimum lethal dose. This level of infectious challenge normally results in uniform death of unprotected monkeys within 7 to 10 days. Treatment of Ebola infected animals with AVI-6002 resulted in 75% survival of the infected animals at 15 days post infection when the treatment period ended and circulating viral titer was below detectable levels. Treatment of Marburg infected animals with AVI-6003 resulted in 100% survival at 15 days.
The studies utilized experimental drugs based on a novel variation of AVI’s proprietary NeuGene chemistry referred to as NeuGene Plus in which anti-viral potency was enhanced by the addition of positively-charged components to the morpholino backbone. These new data are a result of continued studies conducted in collaboration with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).
George Korch, Jr., commander of USAMRIID, said: “Since the discovery of these viruses in 1967, no prior therapeutic approach has resulted in this level of survival in non-human primates. We look forward to working with AVI to advance these drug candidates with the ultimate goal of submitting them for FDA approval.”