PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AVI BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:AVII - News), announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Orphan Products Development has granted orphan drug designation to AVI-4658 for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). AVI-4658 uses AVI’s ESPRIT technology (Exon Skipping Pre-RNA Interference Technology) and is designed to benefit patients with certain mutations in the dystrophin gene. By “skipping” exon 51, the proper RNA reading frame can be restored in suitable patients, resulting in the production of functional dystrophin.
