Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is a rare human disease caused by Ebola Virus (EBOV), a filamentous single-stranded, negative-sense RNA virus. Since 1976 several Ebolavirus outbreaks have occurred with fatality rates ranging from 57% to 90%, with most of these outbreaks traced to single EBOV species; EBOV-Z. No effective therapy is currently available for Ebolavirus.
AVI-6002 is an experimental combination of 2 phosphorodiamidate morpholino antisense oligomers with positive charges on selected subunits (PMOplus™). These oligomers specifically target viral messenger RNA encoding 2 Ebolavirus proteins thought to be important in viral replication and host immune suppression. The present study is designed to characterize the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of escalating single-administration doses of AVI-6002 in healthy human subjects.