Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[apostrophe]

re: " the treated ones could get a very large placebo-effect boost, while the placebo group gets the opposite—an adverse “nocebo” effect from the expectation that their disease will worsen unabated. "

re: "The IVIg-treated patients also showed less evidence of Alzheimer’s-related brain shrinkage. Yet in a more recent, larger trial, IVIg-treated patients on the whole fared no better than a placebo group..."

Now I keep thinking about this mysterious thing called "placebo effect". Maybe because it keeps popping up in discussion around here like a cowlick that won't stay combed down. It still gets mostly dismissed as chance or psychological, but here, in your example, it looks like we're seeing some actual physical effect.

So, although not reliably repeatable, placebo effect, and directed positive thinking like prayer, are recognized as real phenomena that can cause improvement and even "spontaneous remission" of disease, e.g. cancer. Maybe even Alzheimers?

Here's a radical thought: What if, in some cases, people are able to reach their S1 receptors as a mental response, considering that thought patterns, good or bad, take place in the CNS which pretty much connects everywhere in the body?

We've all heard the sad expression about someone "dying of a broken hearr". Maybe it's not necessarily imaginary in every case? What if their mental/emotional state is modulating S1 the wrong way, triggering anti-survival (i.e. adverse “nocebo” effect).

You know how some people, like, certain Buddhist monks, by practicing advanced meditation techniques or whatever, can mentally control their own body temperature?

http://www.snopes.com/harvard-study-confirms-tibetan-monks-can-raise-body-temperature-with-their-minds/

Although those would be different receptors, it does provide a sort of proof of concept for the general notion.

The exact internal mechanism modulating the S-1 in the body "is not completely understood'.

"...A variety of specific physiological functions have been attributed to the s1 receptor. Chief among these are modulation of Ca2+ release, modulation of cardiac myocyte contractility, and inhibition of voltage gated K+ channels.[16] The reasons for these effects are not well understood, even though s1 receptors have been linked circumstantially to a wide variety of signal transduction pathways. ..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma-1_receptor

It's pretty hard to maintain a directed or positive attitude over a long period of time. Seems like there's always some killjoy or buzz-kill around the next corner, or you just tire out. So placebo effect peters out, even when it is a real phenomona with real physiological effects.

What if it is connected to S-1 modulation somehow? The radical notion here is that Anavex 2-73 could be taking the load off of maintaining a positive S1 by mental power alone (among other beneficial things). In such a case, "placebo effect" isn't a bad thing, no need to contest it, after all it results in improvement. Maybe we've just found a way to keep it going and make it permanent. :)