Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[NWDR]

Regarding the Anavex Plus patent and why I believe an approval (or not) for this patent is a non-issue for Anavex.

Anavex Plus is a combination of A2-73 and donepezil (brand name Aricept).

Donepezil is a generic drug. Meaning it no longer has patent protection and can be manufactured by any pharma company that chooses to do so (assuming they have an FDA approved lab, etc..).

Here is why I believe this patent is a non-issue.

(1) No other pharma company can manufacture, distribute and sell A2-73 without Anavex's approval.

(2) If a doctor wishes a patient to take both A2-73 and donepezil prescriptions can be written for both and a patient would need to take two pills to obtain both A2-73 and donepezil.

(3) Donepezil has many more unpleasant side effects than A2-73. Human clinical trial data is now starting to indicate that donepezil plus A2-73 is no more effective than A2-73 alone. So why prescribe something that increases side effects with no additional treatment advantage?

(4) If during larger human trials donepezil and A2-73 are shown to be more efficacious than A2-73 alone and IF it is highly desirable to reduce the number of pills a patient needs to take then Anavex could go the following route to bring a compound capsule to market with both A2-73 and donepezel.

Everyone remember Martin Shkreli. Poster bad boy for unfettered capitalism (and I'm a conservative) without any moral compass.

Here's a link if you are unaware of his activities;
http://heavy.com/news/2015/09/martin-shkreli-hedge-fund-ceo-aids-drug-price-increase-turing-pharmaceuticals-daraprim/

His actions include purchasing the only company making Daraprim and hiking the price from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill. Daraprim is used by some AIDs and cancer patients to treat a certain type of infection. Daraprim has been on the market for over 60 years. Talk about price gouging...

However, several months after Shkreli announced this price increase there was this announcement.

http://imprimispharma.investorroom.com/2015-10-22-Imprimis-Pharmaceuticals-to-Make-Compounded-and-Customizable-Formulation-of-Pyrimethamine-and-Leucovorin-Available-for-Physicians-to-Prescribe-for-their-Patients-as-an-Alternative-to-Daraprim

and

http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/01/news/daraprim-drug-express-scripts-imprimis/

Imprimis would manufacture a capsule that contained the same ingredients as the Daraprim pill. Express Scripts announced that they would offer the Imprimis capsule instead of the high cost Daraprim pill. Imprimis can manufacture this capsule because all of the medications in the capsule are generic and have been approved by the FDA.

If Anavex Plus is never patented but A2-73 is approved I believe Anavex could have a pharma lab manufacture a capsule that contained both A2-73 and donepezil. No other company could do this because A2-73 would be patented by Anavex which would prevent any other company from combining A2-73 with donepezil in any form and marketing it.

So I believe Anavex Plus was a good idea but is not necessary for the success of Anavex.

Long AVXL.

Cheers

ps. This in no way should be construed as investment advice. This is just an anonymous message board...