Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[falconer66a]

Your Concern is Understood

Seems to me you would need an extremely large number of pre-natal patients in such a study, to then compare the results to statistical incidence of congenital defects, no?

That perception can be understood. But, no, the testing for the prophylaxis of congenital defects wouldn't be done in humans. That would take years and years.

The confirmative testing would be in any number of lab animals; to start, in murines, lab rodents. In lab mice those data will emerge in just a few months. Lab rats, larger, will require a bit longer. With positive findings, that blarcamesine does, indeed, reduce or prevent congenital defects in rodents, the phenomenon may then be required to be tested in primates --- although medical experimentation on primates, such as the rhesus macaque, is being severely restricted.

Beyond prophylactic efficacy, two other factors will play strongly in the matter: cost and safety. If the drug can be administered inexpensively, (say, at a dollar a day), and it has been proven to be safe in chronic (long time period) dosings, its use as a prophylactic is more probable.

But, in fact, none of these tests may ever be needed; once it is confirmed that blarcamesine is generally prophylactic for a host of pathologies, where the taking of a small dose of blarcamesine each day, starting at an early age and on through the rest of life, induces good general health. With millions of people taking the drug to promote and preserve good general health, it may well be incidentally discovered that babies born to mothers taking blarcamesine for general prophylaxis have lower rates or incidents of congenital defects.