Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[Doc328]

I understand the appeal to authority bias and have fallen victim to its comfort in the past. Being in medicine for many years, I know a person can be outstanding in their field and still wrong. I am glad Missling has people like Dr. Jin to help with the stats - perhaps he would have been able to successfully argue to Missling that his studies were underpowered and designed for best case not realistic case. Perhaps not because I have a sense Dr. M thinks Dr.M is always right. In the past at the FDA his job was to evaluate data and find flaws if present to determine if the substantial evidence bar was reached. But his job now is to present the data in its best light to make an argument for approval.

Dr. Sabbagh is a well known AD expert and an effective communicator at meetings. I respect him as an AD expert more knowledgeable and connected in that field than me. But he has been wrong in the past, and could be wrong now. Following is a link to an interview touting the virtue of aducanumab. At the time of that interview (according to CMS Open Payments, Biogen was paying him handsomely as a consultant). During interviews and quotations about lecanemab, Eisai was his biggest consultancy payer. There is some chicken/egg arguments with company payments and public opinions - is a person like Sabbagh (or me with an MS company) chosen to consult, present and speak because of a pre-existing and strong belief in the drug or does the payment increase an existing positive or neutral feel. Or most likely, since we are dealing with humans, a little of both.

Carl Sagan had a couple quotes about the authority bias in science.
“Arguments from authority carry little weight – authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.”

"One of the great commandments of science is, 'Mistrust arguments from authority.' ... Too many such arguments have proved too painfully wrong. Authorities must prove their contentions like everybody else."

Sabbagh aducanumab presentation: https://www.neurologylive.com/view/marwan-sabbagh-md-outlook-of-aducanumab-in-alzheimer-disease