AVI Starts Duchenne Trial

Bothell, WA-based AVI Biopharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]) said today it has started dosing patients in a mid-stage trial of eteplirsen, an experimental RNA-based therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The study is expected to enroll 12 patients at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH. Patients will get once-weekly intravenous infusions of the new drug, or a placebo, for 24 weeks, AVI said.

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.