I don't presume to know your background, education or expertise. You could be Warren Buffett for all I know, but that doesn't make the following points any less valid. I'll try to address each of yours with the devil's advocate perspective.
1. Compensation: If you're a numbers guy, the stock price is up like 1000% since 2014. How is that not sufficient shareholder value creation for you? It's not like he was playing some incredible hand when he took over. Anavex was nearly defunct. It's only asset were some patents for a crazy Sigma-1 theory. If Anavex went belly up 18 months after Dr. Missling took over, would anyone have been surprised?
Today, the company is running multiple late-stage trials, it's debt free with enough cash runway for several years, it's recruiting respected scientists and FDA experts, it has access to capital negotiated at a time when lending conditions were more favorable than today, and its managed to keep its share count under 100 million. It's also remained on Nasdaq for several years and has only had one reverse split in its history.
How much do you think a CEO like that is worth? $350k net + performance-based options sounds pretty cheap to me.
2. Everyone makes mistakes, BioChecker. Even the best CEOs make plenty of them.
Do you remember the Amazon phone? Or when the Apple BoD fired Steve Jobs? How about when Citigroup canned Jamie Dimon, or when Michael Bloomberg received the axe at Solomon Brothers?
I challenge you to find me a publicly traded CEO who hasn't made mistakes. I respect Dr. Missling for not panicking. He keeps moving forward. When things are in a "Dead Period", he's submitting new patents and probably having all sorts of discussions with various entities from potential partners to the FDA to various international regulators to insurance companies to fund managers. And of course, we're also waiting for peer-review because that's the final nail in the coffin for skeptics that the data is cherry-picked or the trial design is flawed to the point the drug can't be approved. He can release something now but what's the point if only the same people who believe him today will believe him later?
3. Dr. Missling's communication has been improving. That's what I like to see, learning from mistakes is a good thing. As Steve Jobs once said, "mistakes mean things are happening." A recent PR was more explicit that the company is talking to the FDA, quelling a big debate on this board up until then.
You're disappointed in the stock price because you lack perspective. Anyone who bought in early, 2015-2018, is thrilled with the stock price. Many are riding free shares but even for those who aren't, the downside risk is much reduced compared to years past.
My advice to you is the same I once told a kid who showed incredible potential in the youth basketball team I coached: relax and be patient, enjoy the passage of time. This kid was easily good enough to play high school ball as a middle schooler but his school wouldn't allow it. It was out of his control and he just had to wait. As do we. A new CEO could do a slop job of rushing the NDA and exposing himself to actual merited criticism, or he can be patient, wait for peer-review, apply for a bunch of patents that take time to be reviewed, etc. I'd much prefer to have a CEO who exhibits patience and calmness amongst criticism than a CEO who rushes through a 10+ year approval process because a few shareholders want it completed in 8.
