AVI BioPharma's release of data from hepatitis trial delayed

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., April 20 - AVI BioPharma, Inc. said preliminary data on the status of its multi-center study in patients with chronic active hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is not ready due to unexpected delays in final qualification of some clinical sites.

Data was anticipated by early April.

The study is actively enrolling HCV patients at four clinical sites. While some patients have completed the study through day 45, more patients must reach day 28 before meaningful virological response data can be collected, according to a news release.

The trial is designed to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and viral response to treatment with AVI's proprietary Neugene antisense compound AVI-4065 among healthy volunteers and patients with HCV, the release said.

AVI said it expects to present the data at the International Conference on Antiviral Research annual meeting on May 10.

"Although it is disappointing that a slow start to the study prevents release of preliminary data today, the trial is on track. Thus far, there have been no safety or tolerability issues in either cohort of patients receiving AVI-4065," chief executive officer Denis R. Burger said in the release.

Portland, Ore.-based AVI BioPharma develops therapeutic products for the treatment of life-threatening diseases.

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