re: "But Avanex doesn’t really have the cash to start one..."
Two or three hundred patients should be sufficient according to discussions I've seen.
At an estimated $36k per patient, a 250 member adaptive trial could be paid for up front with $9 million cash on hand. Of course, this money is more-or-less reserved to cover operating expenses for a year so they can take their time. Such a trial doesn't need to be paid in advance and will likely be recruited over time.
Unlike most developmental stage companies they have nil debt. Also they have a $50 million+ credit card with Lincoln that they haven't activated yet. Only it's actually a debit card that can draw on a portion of the 60 million authorized shares still in the cupboard. The agreement with Lincoln Capital has been carefully detoxified.
IMO Anavex already has the formulas in hand, doesn't need research help, doesn't really need a partner, except maybe a pill maker. Either partner or acquire e.g. Pfizer bought Park-Davis.Going to need a lot of pills at some point. If it were me, I'd just buy a pill making machine. The only thing more highly automated than pill making is semi-conductor manufacturing. Pill making is a lot less complicated. And by machine I mean setup a manufacturing cell. As a division it could be run by a handful of employees. But that's just me. By farming everything out they've saved tying up a lot of capital in depreciating assets.
They also have a good track record on getting grant money.
ho hum
Now that the rain has stopped I'm going to go out and plant a tree. Japanese Maple, very cool looking tree. The leaves resemble cannabis at first glance. :)
