AVI Biopharma Gets $18M Flu Contract

AVI Biopharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]), the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA-based therapies, said today it has been awarded a U.S. defense contract that could be worth as much as $18 million to develop a treatment against pandemic H1N1 flu. The money is supposed to support development of AVI-7100 as a nasal spray formulation, and to pay for initial human trials to demonstrate safety.

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.