Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

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The last offering was at $21 for $50M—so why dilute now at a much lower price?

Because AVXL is, in a few months, facing a binary event that, worse case, could take the stock price down to cash value of less than $1.50/share and the price is what it is ($12.13). AVXL could need money for both a Phase III schizophrenia trial and a second AD Phase III trial. In the absence of other material and positive information, Missling has a responsibility to protect AVXL's going concern status. The timing of any offering is uncertain. At this time, Missling could be getting close to releasing the top line schizophrenia data. If positive, Missling could be aligning the timing of the offering with an increase in the stock price associated with those results. He also could align the timing of the offering with an expected resumption of the AD clock stop in the next month or so. The most conservative move would be to place an offering at the current time. Regardless, Missling was being responsible and prudent when AVXL filed the shelf registration and it should not have caught shareholders off guard.