AVI BioPharma Inc. confirmed that its experimental drug Neugene proved effective against multiple strains of influenza, including avian influenza strain H5N1, in preclinical experiments.
"These confirmations validate our approach to blocking replication of influenza viruses. We now believe that a single Neugene drug could be effective against most influenza subtypes, including the H5N1 avian strain," said Patrick L. Iversen, senior vice president of research and development at AVI.
"By targeting regions of the viral genetic code that are common to all influenza A subtypes, we expect that our NEUGENE drugs will be effective against avian flu and the far more common influenza A viruses, which kill an average of 35,000 Americans every year," added Iverson.
According to a company release, AVI is also conducting collaborative animal studies evaluating NEUGENE efficacy against influenza strains at Tulane University in New Orleans and at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease (USAMRIID) in Frederick, Maryland.
"Based on these recent findings and other results from additional studies, AVI now plans to file an investigative new drug (IND) application with the FDA for the treatment of influenza A virus with Neugene antisense drugs. We feel confident in the safety, efficacy and potency of our Neugene drugs targeting influenza and plan to move forward into the clinical trial process later this year," said Denis R Burger, chief executive officer of AVI.
AVI's Neugene antisense drug development programme against the influenza A virus specifically targets genetic regions of the virus that are highly conserved between six viral subtypes that cause human disease. These include three subtypes that caused pandemics in the 20th century - the 1918 Spanish flu (H1N1), the 1957 Asian flu (H2N2) and the 1968 Hong Kong flu (H3N2) and three subtypes of avian flu that have been reported to cause disease in humans (H5N1, H7N7 and H9N2).
AVI's proprietary Neugene antisense drug candidates have demonstrated efficacy in preclinical studies against SARS coronavirus, West Nile virus (WNV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), dengue virus, Ebola virus, and Marburg virus. AVI has filed IND applications with the US Food and Drug Administration and has ongoing clinical trials in WNV and HCV.
Showing how versatile Neugene drugs can be across viral subtypes, AVI demonstrated in its collaboration with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that Neugene agents are efficacious against all four immunologically distinct subtypes of the dengue virus. This outcome was achieved by targeting a highly conserved region of the dengue viral genetic code.
Influenza, or flu, is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. On average 5 per cent to 20 per cent of the US population is infected with the flu each year. Influenza A virus is an enveloped negative-strand RNA virus, with eight genome segments that code for 10 proteins.