Think Dengue: Antisense compounds are designed to bind to specific disease-causing gene sequences and disable the disease process.

A Corvallis biotech firm is working with Army researchers on a drug to fight a tropical disease that's gaining a toehold in the United States...........

AVI BioPharma recently signed a cooperative research and development agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md. This collaborative effort will examine the ability of AVI compounds to fight dengue fever and related viruses.

According to Patrick Iversen, AVI's senior vice president of research and development, AVI and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered an antisense compound he thinks will be effective in fighting the dengue virus.


Antisense compounds are designed to bind to specific disease-causing gene sequences and disable the disease process.

Under the agreement, AVI's Corvallis labs will produce the synthetic antiviral compounds and perform gene sequencing and preclinical trials happen there. Walter Reed will carry out clinical trials testing the efficacy, toxicity and specificity of the drug.

"The scientists at Walter Reed are the world's authority on dengue," Iversen said, explaining why AVI does not run clinical trials in-house. "Plus, we don't want to bring dengue virus to Corvallis."

Iversen thinks that if AVI can win approval for a compound to fight dengue fever, that could open the door for a host of other antisense treatments. Not only would that benefit his company, Iversen believes, it could also boost Oregon's economy by raising the state's profile in the biotech industry.

Dengue fever is a viral infection contracted when a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. It causes flulike symptoms and can result in a fatal hemorrhagic fever. Dengue is primarily a tropical disease, with high concentrations in Malaysia, southeast China and, more recently, South and Central America.

Iversen said experts expect dengue to affect 200 million people this year. There is currently no commercial vaccine or treatment for the illness, so AVI and Walter Reed stand to break new ground if successful in getting a drug approved for widespread human use.

In the last 10 years, dengue began appearing in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Since Oregon has relatively few mosquitoes, this area is at a much lower risk for outbreaks of the disease, Iversen said.

The research deal with the Department of Defense is AVI's second this year. In August, the company established a five-year agreement with the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. This partnership tests AVI drugs against agents on the list of bioterrorism threats, such as anthrax, Ebola, pox viruses and Marburg virus. Iversen said these joint efforts are "going splendidly."

As part of a three-year allocation in President Bush's budget, AVI received $5 million in government funding this year. According to Iversen, the next two years will each bring between $5 million and $12 million in federal support.

The research agreement "doesn't spell out dollars and cents," Iversen said. "It's not a grant."

However, he added, the deal allocates the time and resources of federal facilities and employees to work on approved projects such as the dengue and bioterrorism collaborations.

In addition to the two Army research commitments, AVI has multiple ongoing projects. It is developing antisense compounds to fight health hazards such as cardiovascular restenosis (a complication resulting from a procedure to treat coronary artery disease), various types of cancer and West Nile virus.