Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[Steady_T]

At one point I think Missling did say that Biogen had chosen to not move forward with 2-73 and MS. I think that was in response to a question. No, I do not have a link nor do I care about trying to find one.

Biogen was under no obligation to explain to Anavex why it choose to not move forward with 2-73 and MS. Missling may not know why. The company did not make any statements of expectation of future contracts with Biogen when it announced the MTA. So there was no expectation set by the company that it had to dispel when Biogen choose to not move forward.

...today announced that it has signed a material transfer agreement with Biogen (Cambridge, MA) under which Biogen will test Anavex’s lead drug candidate, ANAVEX 2-73 in an oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) differentiation assay. A satisfactory result from the OPC assay study may lead to an in vivo remyelination study using a chemical demyelination model.

At the time Biogen was looking at 2-73 all testing had been in vitro with cell cultures. The research was at a preliminary stage. You assume it was an "unexplained failure". That is quite a leap to conclusion. Biogen could have had many reasons for not pursuing 2-73 for MS. Many of which may have had nothing to do with 2-73. Budgets cuts, staff changes, other research directions chosen, just to name a few. And yes, it is possible that 2-73 did not live up to Biogen's expectations.

Oh, and yes I can dismiss the fact that Biogen choose not to pursue 2-73 as a treatment for MS. At that time Anavex was just getting started in trials for 2-73 and chose to pursue other CNS diseases to get 2-73 approved. So Anavex hasn't pursued a possible indication for 2-73. They may choose to do so at a later date or never.

Either way, I'm concerned with what will happen, not what has happened in the not very recent past.