Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[Investor2014]

Nice work bio!

I do have one initial question/critique.

All the figures I can find support the fact that the prevalence of Alzheimer's is about twice as high in women versus men. It is also true that this magnitude difference cannot be explained simply by life expectancy or all sorts of other factors proposed and reviewed.e.g. not well understood.

Hence your thesis could well have merit, except what have been the means of contraception in different countries over time and did the pill have prevalence?

I suspect you have considered this, although my quick research is not all supportive.

The picture of contraceptive methods vary over time and by country. in Japan the pill has never been widely used and yet the prevalence there of AD is also higher among women than men.

Across all European countries the prevalence of AD in women is also consistently about twice that of men.
2013: The prevalence of dementia in Europe

However, we cannot conclude that the majority of women in all those countries would have used the pill in 1960's and 1970's. For example in predominantly Catholic countries birth control by the pill or otherwise is shall we say less common.

The use of the pill tailed off in the mid seventies across pretty much all countries and was complemented with a range of other contraceptive methods such that the pill now represents below 20% and of course now with far lower hormone content. If your thesis is true we should be seeing the prevalence of AD in women coming down.