Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

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NEW YORK, NY – April 3, 2017 – Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (“Anavex” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: AVXL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing differentiated therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, other central nervous system (CNS) diseases, pain and various types of cancer, announced today the presentation of new mechanism of action data related to ANAVEX compounds targeting the sigma-1 receptor at the AD/PDTM 2017 Meeting.
Hall H et al presented preclinical data indicating that during pathological conditions, ANAVEX 3-71 demonstrated the formation of new synapses between neurons (synaptogenesis) without causing an abnormal increase in the number of astrocytes. In neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, synaptogenesis is believed to be impaired.
Goguadze N et al presented preclinical data indicating that in addition to reducing oxidative stress, ANAVEX 2-73, ANAVEX 3-71 and ANAVEX 1-41 also demonstrated protective effects of the mitochondrial enzyme complexes I and IV during pathological conditions. The mitochondrial enzyme complex IV is directly involved in the synthesis of ATP, which provides energy within cells for metabolism. It is believed that energy production impairment and mitochondrial dysfunction play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders and neurodevelopmental diseases.
“These new results provide converging evidence on mechanism of action as well as possible disease-modifying properties potentially by restoring homeostasis by means of the sigma-1 receptor agonists in our pipeline. This data also provides a foundation for our ongoing translational research efforts,” said Christopher U. Missling, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anavex.
Both data sets described that Aß1-42 (amyloid beta) significantly impairs biological function in the respective animal models and the observed regain of function confirmed the protective potential of ANAVEX sigma-1 receptor agonists against amyloid beta -induced toxicity. The former presentation further reported that although that the transgenic McGill rats had a very late stage of Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology (13 months of age), treatment with ANAVEX 3-71 fully reversed cognitive deficits, reduced amyloid pathology and also significantly reduced inflammation. Furthermore, the sustained recovery in cognition and pathophysiology observed following a month-long washout phase in advanced pathology (19 months of age) strongly suggests true disease-modifying properties of ANAVEX 3-71.
The respective presentations are available on the Anavex website.