AVI BioPharma Announces Late-Breaker Oral Presentation of Phase IIb DMD Study at 2012 AAN Annual Meeting in April

AVI BioPharma, Inc.

today announced that an abstract describing the Company's Phase IIb study evaluating eteplirsen for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy has been accepted as part of the American Academy of Neurology Emerging Science program (formerly known as the Late-Breaking Science program). The brief oral presentation will take place during AAN's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center from April 21 to April 28, 2012. AAN describes Emerging Science Abstracts as works of major scientific importance and representing scientific advances that emerged after the original October 2011 abstract deadline that warrant expedited presentation and publication. AVI's abstract does not contain study results, but a description of the study design and type of findings to be presented at the meeting. "The results of this study represent an important milestone for the development of treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and we are pleased that AAN agreed to include this first placebo-controlled study evaluating exon skipping in DMD as one of the 15 Emerging Science Abstracts for the conference this year," said Chris Garabedian, president and CEO of AVI BioPharma.