AVI drops hepatitis C trial to focus on Neugene

AVI BioPharma also said that it would be optimizing compounds targeting infectious diseases, and testing new technologies that leverage the Neugene antisense platform, such as exon-skipping pre-RNA interference technology (ESPRIT).

“As announced in May, we have evaluated the many potential treatment applications made possible by the versatility of Neugene antisense and will focus our internal resources on those that offer what we believe to be the most viable near-term market opportunities,” said K Michael Forrest, interim CEO of AVI.

“We continue to be impressed with the progress of our partner, Global Therapeutics (a Cook Medical company), in developing Neugene compounds targeting restenosis. We also expect to advance our own clinical programs in the months ahead, including the ongoing Neugene trial in coronary artery bypass graft surgery and a new trial using our Esprit technology in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.”

As part of the pipeline refocusing, AVI is discontinuing its planned dose-escalating hepatitis C (HCV) trial using AVI-4065. Instead, AVI researchers will apply recent innovations to HCV compounds with the goal of improving the delivery to targeted cells, increasing potency and lowering overall dosage requirements, potentially resulting in a more commercially viable product.