AVI BioPharma Announces First Quarter 2012 Financial Results and Corporate Update Conference Call

   AVI BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVII), a developer of RNA-based therapeutics, will report first quarter 2012 financial results after the NASDAQ Global Market closes on Thursday, May 10, 2012. Subsequently, at 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time (2:00 p.m., Pacific time), Chris Garabedian, AVI's president and CEO, will host a conference call to discuss first quarter financial results and to provide a corporate update.

The conference call may be accessed by dialing 800.659.2032 for domestic callers and 617.614.2712 for international callers. The passcode for the call is 33411604. Please specify to the operator that you would like to join the "AVI BioPharma first quarter 2012 earnings call." The conference call will be webcast live under the events section of AVI's website at www.avibio.com and will be archived there following the call for 90 days. Please connect to AVI's website several minutes prior to the start of the broadcast to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be necessary.

About AVI BioPharma AVI BioPharma is focused on the discovery and development of novel RNA-based therapeutics for rare and infectious diseases, as well as other select disease targets. Applying pioneering technologies developed and optimized by AVI, the Company is able to target a broad range of diseases and disorders through distinct RNA-based mechanisms of action. Unlike other RNA-based approaches, AVI's technologies can be used to directly target both messenger RNA (mRNA) and precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) to either down-regulate (inhibit) or up-regulate (promote) the expression of targeted genes or proteins. By leveraging a highly differentiated RNA-based technology platform, AVI has built a pipeline of potentially transformative therapeutic agents, including eteplirsen, which is in clinical development for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and multiple drug candidates that are in clinical development for the treatment of infectious diseases. For more information, visit www.avibio.com.

AVI Investor and Media Contact: Erin Cox 425.354.5140 Email Contact