Anavex should not fire Missling. Anavex is attempting something transformational, which takes time. I say this from personal and other experiences.
I have a personal understanding of cancer immunotherapy. It is limited to me. I will get back to this later, and why it is relevant to understanding what Anavex and Missling are doing. First, here is a little background.
I have 20 years experience with problems and delays involved in clinical trials, drug development, regulatory approvals, and more, which I will not delve into entirely in this short post. Instead, I will provide a more personal point of view. I suppose my experiences in life relevant to the current tipoc, although I did not know it at the time begin long ago. Before Vietnam in the 1960s where I served as a young Marine, but I will begin there. I was lucky. My first cousin and best friend were not. My best friend died instantly. My first cousin is living a mentally tormented life with intervals of relief as long as he receives his monthly VA ”shot.”
I believe that I am the luckiest person in life that I know. I had thought this from childhood when my sister was stricken with a dilabiating CNS disease carried by a mosquito, and I continue with this belief to this very day based on problems experienced by relatives and friends my age and older.
My encounter with immunotherapy grew out of cancer I developed presumed to be related to agent orange exposure in Vietnam. I was determined to overcome that problem. I did research, and I found a small gene therapy trial in progress in Houston at Methodist Hospital conducted by Dr. Butler and Dr. Teh. It was labeled a suicide gene therapy trial. This clinical trial was in the 1990s. I will spare you the details, but I had a severe immune response, and my wife thought I was dying. Unfortunately, this small trial was shut down for several reasons that have nothing to do with the effectiveness of the excellent people conducting it. I believe that clinical trial is at least partially responsible for me being here today. I prefer to believe it altered my immune system to recognize and destroy cancer.
I continue to visit with Dr. Butler and Dr. Teh every year. They remain dedicated to finding treatments for cancer, and they together with others have made progress. However, it has taken a very long time because of a multitude of reasons whether environmental with flooding in Houston where their lab was in a basement, political and religious beliefs, regulatory barriers, competition, etc.
My point in telling you all this is to attempt to relate to you that developing a new and transformational drug -- especially one that may do something that no one has ever accomplished -- takes a very long time regardless of the highly competent and skilled people that are striving to do so.
I hope you can begin to understand that what Anavex is attempting to do. It is a far cry from executing a turn around in existing technology company producing chips and other components not subject to the barriers and problems involved with drugs digested or injected into human beings. My journey in life is a long one. Based on that journey, I do not understand this idea about merely hiring new management in this particular area of finding a new treatment for human beings that will execute, execute, execute to suit our impatience and short-term desires. It is not possible given the environment for startup biotech clinical trial development, and I do not know of any good reason to fire Christopher Missling to suit the whims of shareholders.
Progress in drug development has always been slow. However, I have a purpose in living, and I hope I live long enough to see more growth in drug development, especially in the CNS area.
