AVI Biopharma, the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA-based therapies, said today it has won an expanded $11.5 million contract from the U.S. Defense Department to develop its drug candidate for Junin virus infection. The new contract means AVI has received $45 million in combined contracts to develop treatments for Ebola, Marburg, and now Junin viral infections. AVI (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]) said the cash comes from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Transformational Medical Technologies Initiative for a therapy called AVI-7012. Shares of AVI climbed 28 percent to $2.01 at 9:46 am Eastern time on the news.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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