PORTLAND, OR and SOUTH EGREMONT, MA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 4, 2009 -- AVI BioPharma, Inc. (NasdaqGM:AVII - News) and Charley’s Fund Inc. (CFI), a not for profit organization, today announced that AVI and CFI have amended their existing sponsored research agreement to provide for an additional $3 million in sponsored research funds, for a total of $5 million in support of the development of AVI-5038 through to IND. The drug candidate is based on proprietary PPMO chemistry and has the potential to skip exon 50 in certain patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). AVI’s first contract with the Fund was initiated in October 2007 and partly supported the research that identified AVI-5038.
