Anavex Life Sciences Stock Jumps As Blarcamesine Shows Convincing Biomarker-Correlating Efficacy Data In Parkinson's Disease Dementia Patients

Anavex Life Sciences Corp AVXL has reported that SIGMAR1 mRNA expression correlates positively with responses in efficacy endpoints in the Phase 2 trial of ANAVEX 2-73 (blarcamesine) in patients with Parkinson's disease dementia.
ANAVEX 2-73 activates the sigma-1 receptor (SIGMAR1), restoring neural cell homeostasis and promoting neuroplasticity.
Blarcamesine high dose demonstrated statistically significant improvements compared to placebo for MDS-UPDRS Total score.
MDS-UPDRS Total score improved by -10.98 points in the ANAVEX2-73 high dose group and worsened by 3.53 points in the placebo group, an adjusted mean difference of -14.51. This corresponds to a relative improvement of 18.9 % over 14 weeks.
Previously reported cognitive outcome measures from this study observed statistically significant improvement of CDR system Episodic Memory of +42.22 between ANAVEX 2-73 high dose and placebo dose-dependent.
7 CDR system Episodic Memory is highly correlated (70%) with the ADAS-Cog score.
The difference between the ANAVEX2-73 group and the placebo group in the change from baseline at 14 weeks was a 4.0-point improvement.
Last week, the company reported a similar biomarker correlating efficacy data in Rett Syndrome patients.
HC Wainwright & Co. analyst Raghuram Selvaraju maintained Anavex Life Sciences with a Buy rating and raised the price target from $25 to $39.
Price Action: AVXL shares are up 28.5% at $31.8 during the premarket session on the last check Monday.