Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[falconer66a]

No, prions not a likely Anavex target.

I, too, heard that broadcast, and sort of cringed. The reporter didn't really tell the prion story. Yes, prions are "misfolded proteins," but utterly unlike the misfolded enzyme proteins that cause the CNS disease symptoms of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and the others we know about (in regard to Anavex 2-73.)

Prions are proteins, but quite remarkable. They are self-reproducing infective agents, forcing infected organisms to create more of the prion proteins. They then accumulate and cause supreme pathological conditions.

The best known prion disease is Mad Cow Disease (properly, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, now pretty much well-controlled, where infected animals are destroyed, and prion-infected foods no longer fed to livestock).

There is one major human prion disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, always fatal. It is acquired mechanically, when prions in infected individuals attach to medical devices (scalpels, probes, etc.) and re-used with insufficient disinfection on new individuals. CJD disinfection can be problematic; simple alcohols and other disinfectants don't work.

Sadly, once a person is infected with the CJD prion, there is little hope. Anavex 2-73 can have no useful mechanism of action against the infective, pathologic protein.

Today, medical facilities are quite attentive to effective cleaning of medical devices, particularly those used with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease patients.