Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[falconer66a]

Both cognition restoration and persisting cognition maintenance.

Importantly, these effects [reversion of cognition deficits in transgenic rats with Alzheimer's] were maintained following a 5-week interruption of the treatment.

For Anavex 3-71, that pretty much summarizes the drug's benefits. First, it reverses the loss of cognition attendant to the presence of Alzheimer's. If that were the only finding of the study, truly wonderful --- better than any other Alzheimer's therapy. But after termination of dosing, after cognition had been restored, Alzheimer's symptoms did not return for at least 5 drug-free weeks.

In aging, how long, in human weeks (or years) would be a rat's week? I found a source claiming that lab rats live about three years. Let's at the same time presume that modern humans live about 80 years. Humans, then, live about 26x longer than rats. Five rat weeks would be equivalent to 130 human weeks; 2.5 years. Could that mean, then, that Anavex 3-71, once it had restored normal cognition in an Alzheimer's patient, could go at least 2.5 years without further dosing?

More likely, of course, would be the continued Anavex 3-71 therapy, but at a reduced maintenance dosage.

But the most important finding is that the drug actually reversed the symptomatic progression of Alzheimer's symptoms, and the drug's restoration of normal cognition prevailed; did not weaken. To date, none of the FDA-approved Alzheimer's drugs have been able to do this; they merely, for a time, slow the lethal progression of cognitive decline. When your Aunt Millie is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, which treatment will you prefer for her?