Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[BIOChecker4]

This is a stock message board. The priority for investors is to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible. Helping humanity is great but secondary in importance in this context.

Speaking for myself, I’m long AVXL because I think the science shows promise in the small, early trials that have been done. My frustration is with the CEO and the board. I think both are second rate under-performers. I worry in particular that Missling is not the right guy to take the company through to a successful conclusion, and the board appears to me to be passive when it comes to setting a high bar for performance. I have no issue with rewarding top performance. However, I do have an issue with richly rewarding second-rate performance.

I believe Missling did a good job getting the company onto Nasdaq, getting money in the bank and getting into early stage trials. But at this juncture, I believe a CEO with a proven track record of successful drug development, regulatory affairs and commercialization is what’s needed to create significant shareholder value (and also to help patients). Missling makes too many unforced errors that hurt shareholder value and from what I can see has little credibility with professional biotech investors (the kind of investors needed to catapult small companies into big, successful companies). Nevertheless, he is richly rewarded despite under-performance on many levels.

I see nothing wrong with expecting the CEO of a company I invest in to be an outstanding performer. Second best is simply not OK. Remember, he and the directors are fiduciaries whose number one job is to enhance shareholder value. I have yet to see that shareholder value is their main focus.