Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[amstocks82]

I think the sheer number of competing drug solutions for Alzheimer's disease is the main reason Anavex is not on the radar.

Looking at the list posted by seventhwave: http://phrma-docs.phrma.org/sites/default/files/pdf/medicines-in-development-drug-list-alzheimers.pdf shows a daunting list of competitors.

It is also hard to cut through the disinformation and even some fake Alzheimer's drug remedies to get to real information. Thus, when someone reads that Anavex seems to have something that works for Alzheimer's disease, most have heard this several times before and know that it didn't pan out.

Going to the list of remedies - it is interesting to note that many were in development for over a decade. The major theory a few years back was that if the amyloid beta-protein accumulation were resolved, that this would resolve many Alzheimer's disease issues. Unfortunately, drugs for this tha did reduce amyloid beta-protein accumulations. For example, Eli Lilly's recent drug trial for Solanezumab - which is an antibody that mops up amyloid proteins from the blood and cerebrospinal fluid failed. Will all other drugs that target these fail? I don't know but I do think that the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease has been partly debunked. Which I think may mean that effective drugs for reducing amyloid accumulations will only be partly successful if any.

The BACE1 type drugs are also anti-amyloid type drugs which work by targeting the enzyme that cleaves protein forming amyloid beta. If it is true that reducing amyloid beta is not very helpful, than all "BACE" type drugs are unlikely to be that helpful

There are some drugs targeting metabolic issues that some Alzheimer's patients have such as glucose type drugs. These are I think unlikely to work in most Alzheimer's patients because many patients don't appear to have glucose regulation type issues. For patients that have them, perhaps it will offer some help.

There are drugs that are "next-generation acetylcholinesterase inhibitor". These work the same way that donepezil works as far as the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor part. If this is all that they do, they can help Alzheimer's patients think better. Essentially, it helps the brain work better but does not stop the progression of the disease. I think donepezil has some small effect on slowing the progression of the disease due to being a sigma-1 receptor agonist.

There are immune globulin drugs. These are also targeting the Amyloid beta protein accumulations. If reducing amyloid beta protein is only of limited utility in Alzheimer's disease as may suspect, then it won't be very helpful.

There are the the serotonin 6 receptor antagonist and serotonin 4 receptor antagonist. I'm not certain about these drugs. Based on only some basic understanding of how these work, I think it might help with some symptoms of Alzheimer's disease but is not a cure. I think it would act more like a acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and increase cognition temporarily while taking it.

There is the dopamine partial agonist. This I think could help with cognition - similar to acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and increase cognition temporarily while taking it.

There is RAGE antagonist. Based on my limited understanding, this could be helpful in Alzheimer's disease. However, in a trial, high doses of a drug for RAGE caused a decrease in cognition. Lower doses showed mild improvements less than donperzil. Perhaps other RAGE antagonists will have better results.

There is nilvadipine - which is an old calcium blocker drug. One of the issues in Alzheimer's disease is calcium regulation issue. This is also something that the Sigma-1 receptor agonist helps with. I think it is possible that this drug has some utility. It is hard to say how much. But at a guess, it will not be that useful. If it has any usefulness at all though, it might be prescribed.

There are a few others especially in phase I that I didn't comment on. Most of which I have not researched. But so far, in my research of alternative drugs, my opinion has been that they are unlikely to be as helpful as Anavex 2-73. On the other hand, I used to think that drugs targeting amyloid beta were most favorable.