Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[orveko_inc]

Anavex Plus and memantine.

Namenda (memantine) has been in the news a lot lately.

Activis will likely lose an important patent for Namenda (memantine) this July. Namenda is currently a 1.8B/year drug approved for moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease that can be taken alone or in combination with an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor such as donepezil (Aricept).

Why is this relevant to Anavex? Anavex is currently undergoing a phase IIa clinical trial for Anavex 2-73 and Anavex Plus (2-73 + donepezil). If you read the patent application for Anavex Plus, you will see that it not only covers the combination of 2-73 + donepezil, but also 2-73 + memantine, and 2-73 + donepezil + memantine (among other combinations).

Now, Anavex has not made any public statements to suggest this (at least none that I can find), but I would not be surprised if they sought to evaluate a combination of Anavex Plus and memantine should the current clinical trial for Anavex Plus prove successful. This is simply speculation on my part, but speculation based on clear indications of the company's strategy for 2-73 – develop it as a platform to improve existing treatments in Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and other CNS diseases in addition to being an important standalone treatment for these and a number of orphan indications.