Anavex Takes Off on Positive Alzheimer’s Data

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 4:39PM EST · Published Nov 30, 1:10PM EST

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Anavex Takes Off on Positive Alzheimer’s Data — © Thinkstock

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: AVXL) was leading the bulls in Monday’s trading session on news of positive results from an Alzheimer’s study. The company announced the publication of further data for Anavex 3-71 (formerly AF710B) in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Neurodegenerative Diseases. The data provide evidence for a positive, more upstream effect on reducing synaptic loss, amyloid and tau pathologies and neuroinflammation, which is potentially beneficial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

Anavex 3-71 is part of the company’s pipeline, including Anavex 2-73, targeting sigma-1 and muscarinic receptors.

For some background on the company, it is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of novel drug candidates to treat central nervous system (CNS) diseases and various types of cancer.

Study author Abraham Fisher, PhD., commented:

Our preclinical findings for ANAVEX 3-71 demonstrate its significant potential to enhance neuroprotection and cognition via concomitant activation of sigma-1 receptor and M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (M1R), which could be a therapeutic advantage in treating Alzheimer’s and other related protein-aggregation diseases. Specifically, the study results reveal that ANAVEX 3-71 effects a strong reversal of synaptic loss in hippocampal neurons. At very low doses, it mitigates cognitive deficits and normalizes major pathological hallmarks in Alzheimer’s disease models indicating that ANAVEX 3-71 exerts a comprehensive disease-modifying effect. This data adds to the strong foundation of preclinical evidence to support the potential use of ANAVEX 3-71 in Alzheimer’s disease and a wide array of other central nervous system diseases.

Christopher U. Missling, PhD, president and CEO of Anavex, added:

In addition to ANAVEX 2-73, which is currently the subject of an ongoing PART B longitudinal extension of the Phase 2a study, it appears that ANAVEX 3-71 could be a highly effective treatment for Alzheimer’s when compared with competing drugs, including donepezil (Aricept®), the current standard of care. Based on the growing body of positive preclinical data, we look forward to continuing to advance ANAVEX 3-71 towards a potential first human clinical trial.

So far in 2015, since Anavex came public, the stock has underperformed the market and is actually down over 36%.

Shares of Anavex were trading up about 30% at $7.82 Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of $10.16 and a post-IPO trading range of $3.16 to $14.84.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.