Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

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How big will Anavex get?

AVXL gaining momentum in the CNS space. What will it take to get a competitive market cap to other bios?

Yes, just today with the new Anavex patent application, targeting a number central nervous system (CNS) diseases and conditions with Anavex 2-73 raises the question, how big in the CNS disease theater will Anavex become?

First, look at the Anavex pipeline. Sixteen pathologies, most of them in the CNS, are listed as target diseases for the Anavex sigma-1 receptor agonists.

But just today, the new patent application was submitted.

Now, these additional diseases are officially targeted:

autism spectrum disorder
cerebral palsy
Williams syndrome
pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)
childhood disintegrative disorder
Smith-Magenis syndrome
multiple sclerosis

Yesterday, the Anavex website listed 17 diseases or conditions that appeared open to Anavex therapy. In today's patent application, seven more diseases (above) are mentioned. That's now a total of 24 various CNS and other severe diseases that Anavex Life Sciences Corp believes to be open to Anavex therapy.

Beyond all of those are a good number of other, yet unlisted CNS and other diseases for which murine (lab rodent) studies have shown Anavex efficacies against. As a biologist, I've read most of the available papers on those. Extremely impressive; but awaiting future human trials. And, I'm certain that Anavex has commissioned murine studies for even more, yet unrevealed diseases and conditions.

Anyone want to reveal any other biotech, start-up or mature, that tells that its drugs or therapies can address an equivalent collection of diverse pathologies? I know of no such company.

How can this be? Is Anavex making this all up, merely pasting up disease names so as to look promising? Or, does the company have unique, novel, innovative science that, in fact, can therapeutically address these diverse pathologies with success?

It's the latter. Unlike most drugs, their proprietary, unique sigma-1 receptor agonist molecules work in diseased cells at the start, at the top of pathological reaction chains, not "downstream," merely addressing resultant symptoms. By fixing biochemical anomalies at their biochemical origin (in the sigma-1 receptor mechanism), all of the consequent downstream pathologies are obviated.

Yes, there are a number of existing molecules that attach to the sigma-1 receptor protein. But none so effectively activate the sigma-1 protein and thereby facilitate all of the consequent homeostatic processes in diseased cells (particularly, but not exclusively, in neurons).

To answer the question, how big can Anavex be, check back in five to ten years. Near term, only three diseases will be addressed: Parkinson's disease dementia, Rett syndrome, and Alzheimer's disease. With revenue streams resulting from regulatory approval for even one of these, clinical testing for safety and efficacy against the other 21 target pathologies can begin.