Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[JB3729]

Here are comments on the trial data from people that know what they are talking about -

“While it is of prime importance to have confirmed that both the primary and secondary endpoints of the trial have been met, it is extremely encouraging to see the emergence of such strong cognitive signals after only 5 weeks of treatment. Such an outcome in a trial such as this is unprecedented in my experience, and the current results suggest that ANAVEX 2-73 could potentially make a significant difference in patients’ lives,” said Associate Professor Stephen Macfarlane, FRANZCP, Director of Aged Psychiatry at Alfred Health, who conducted the study. “We continue to receive extremely positive feedback about the effects of the drug from our study participants and their caregivers. The results justify a prospective comparison with current standard of care in a larger clinical trial.”

Professor Paul Maruff, Chief Scientific Officer of Cogstate commented: “The Cogstate tests measure people’s ability to store and use information. The results of the Phase 2a study demonstrate that ANAVEX 2-73 improves psychomotor function, attention and working memory. For attention and working memory these improvements were statistically significant with a p-value of p<0.05 and p<0.001, respectively and their magnitude clinically important. To my knowledge, we have not yet seen a drug that has improved quantitatively working memory to such an extent as seen with ANAVEX 2-73”.

Professor Harald Hampel, member of Anavex’s Scientific Advisory Board, and AXA Research Fund Chair at Sorbonne Universities’ Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC) in Paris, France, commented: “The collective data from this Phase 2a trial supports the concept of targeting the sigma-1 receptor with ANAVEX 2-73 with a degree of confidence that we did not foresee. Sigma-1 receptor presents an innovative interventional upstream approach to impact key cellular events believed to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease pathophysiology. The presented Phase 2a data underlines the importance of rigorously investigating a potential efficacy signal on co-primary outcomes such as cognition and function in larger and well-powered trials”.

“We are encouraged by the preliminary safety and efficacy data. We look forward to continuing with PART B of the Phase 2a trial and expect to provide data updates at 12 week, 26 week, 38 week and 52 week time points,” said Christopher U. Missling, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anavex. “While we remain focused on Alzheimer’s, the remarkably fast onset of clinical effect of ANAVEX 2-73 increases our options to potentially pursue additional indications for diseases characterized by working memory impairment and may enable clinical trials to be completed within shorter time frames.”
http://www.anavex.com/?news=anavex-announces-positive-primary-and-secondary-endpoints-were-achieved-in-a-phase-2a-clinical-trial-of-anavex-2-73-in-alzheimers-disease%e2%80%8e