AVI BioPharma Moves Headquarters To Greater Seattle Area

AVI BioPharma has announced the impending strategic move to shift corporate headquarters and much of its leadership team to the greater Seattle area. The company plans to build upon and broaden its clinical development and drug discovery skill base by drawing upon the region’s scientific expertise.

The move would enable AVI to streamline its corporate operations and upgrade its capability to add new drug candidates to its pipeline in neuromuscular, immunological and viral diseases.

Leslie Hudson, president and chief executive officer of AVI BioPharma, said: AVI has reached a critical juncture in its evolution – our pipeline of new and novel RNA-based therapeutics is growing and already has sparked significant interest and excitement from the scientific, pharmaceutical and financial communities. As we continue to develop our lead candidates towards potential regulatory approval, our ability to fully build out our organization and develop AVI’s commercial capabilities will become a high priority.

This move to the biotechnology hub in Seattle provides us with important competitive advantages in accessing experienced executives, scientists and regional collaborators. We look forward to being active and engaged corporate citizens in the region, he added.

AVI has signed a lease agreement for a 19,000 square feet facility in Bothell, Washington that includes office and laboratory space. The company expects to have operations underway in the new facility in August 2009, including its R&D efforts around its ongoing dose finding trial of AVI-4658 in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The company will relocate most of its leadership team to Seattle, relocate and recruit to its discovery teams in chemistry and biology, and will also add to its current teams in drug and business development.