AVI BioPharma, Inc. has appointed Jayant Aphale, Ph.D., as senior vice president of technical operations effective December 12. Dr. Aphale will be responsible for all of AVI’s internal and outsourced manufacturing activities, with an emphasis on technology transfer, scale-up, CMC compliance, CMC regulatory issues, and CMC project management from initial development through commercial production.

Additionally, AVI has cut its workforce by approximately 28% in an effort to streamline infrastructure, lower expenses, and narrow its focus to rare and infectious diseases. Chris Garabedian, AVI’s chief executive officer and president, said, “We believe this restructuring will result in a more streamlined and efficient organization focused on our main value-driving programs in rare and infectious diseases.”

Dr. Aphale has more than 18 years of cGMP technical operations and cross-functional leadership experiences within small and large companies. He Aphale has served as vice president at GlaxoSmithKline in Belgium leading new product introductions, cGMP scale-up of clinical material manufacturing, U.S. government interactions and global technology transfer of marketed vaccines. Prior to GSK, Dr. Aphale was vice president of manufacturing and process sciences at Enobia Pharma, where he structured the CMO network and led technology transfer and scale-up of its lead product in the rare disease space.

“Dr. Aphale’s broad cross-functional skills and experiences in the key areas of quality, compliance, scale-up and technology transfer in moving clinical products to commercial stage add considerable expertise to the management team, as we navigate this pivotal point in the company’s development,” said Mr. Garabedian. “We are excited to have Dr. Aphale join the team and look forward to his leadership and contributions in this important area.”