Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[wildcard235]

My understanding: There is no legal definition of phase 1, 2, or 3, and how the terms are used in the industry are a little soft, but the general concept is phase 1 clinical trials use healthy subjects to determine the safety of the drug candidate, phase 2 is a relatively small-scale test on subjects with the target indication (disease) to see if there is any sign of efficacy, and phase 3 is a large-scale trial to determine if efficacy is better than placebo. Phase 4 trials are performed after a drug is on the market, sometimes in lieu of phase 3.