Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

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Verbal Detection of Early-stage Alzheimer’s

A team of researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is devising a rather simple verbal, word-selection and word-use test that appears to identify prodromal (early-stage) Alzheimer’s disease; before more severe, classic symptoms appear:

The LASSI-L measure is a novel "cognitive stress test" validated in both English and Spanish. Researchers ask patients to read 15 words. The words come from three categories -- fruits, musical instruments and articles of clothing -- of five words each. They ask participant to repeat the list of words, and then cue their recall by category. A second trial repeats this learning task and the cued recall to strengthen their recall.
Next researchers present a list of 15 different words from the same three categories. The patients are asked to recall these new words as a measure of "proactive semantic interference" (PSI). PSI occurs where there is interference in new learning based on previous learning and correlates with risk of developing AD.

In application, the procedure offers diagnostic benefits:

"The association of the LASSI-L with amyloid positivity makes it useful in the clinical evaluation of preclinical Alzheimer's disease and for appropriate recruitment for clinical and prevention trials," Loewenstein said. "This also provides an effective and inexpensive way of screening at-risk populations."

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uomm-nss090418.php

What, if anything, might this have to do with Anavex? Very clear. Once Anavex 2-73 is approved for treating those with Alzheimer’s, almost surely it will be discovered that those who benefit most are those taking the drug at the earliest stages of the disease. This simple verbal test can accurately identify those who will develop full-scale Alzheimer’s — but long before that happens. Consequently, they will be treated with Anavex 2-73, prophylactically, before severe symptoms set in. The course of the disease will be interrupted; patients will longer lives with full cognition.

Probably too early to use these verbal tests to select subjects in clinical trials of Alzheimer’s drugs. Nonetheless, if authenticated, the test will be far cheaper and quicker than PET scans or other complicated clinical participation tests.