Anavex Life Sciences Stock Spikes On Late-Stage Alzheimer’s Drug Trial Data, Retail Mood Upbeat

Shares of Anavex Life Sciences Corp. ($AVXL) defied the broader market weakness and rallied on Thursday following a clinical trial readout.

New York-based Anavex announced new data from the Phase 2b/3 study of its investigational drug candidate blarcamesin, administered as an once-daily oral formulation, demonstrating pre-specified clinical efficacy in people with early Alzheimer’s disease. 

The drug candidate, codenamed ANAVEX 2-73 worked through upstream activation of SIGMAR1, which is an integral membrane protein.

Analysis of Phase 2b/3 data showed that over 48 weeks, blarcamesine significantly slowed clinical progression by 36.3% in the primary endpoint - Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive 13-item, or ADAS-Cog13, scale, in the intention-to-treat analysis, the neurology-focused small-cap biopharma said. 

Juan Carlos Lopez-Talavera, Head of R&D at Anavex, said, “The advantage of blarcamesine is that it is a small oral molecule that exerts clinical benefits on cognition and neurodegeneration and could be appealing because of its route of administration and good comparative safety profile.”

The company said it is on track for regulatory submission of blarcamesine in Europe in the fourth quarter.

The data was presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference, being held in Madrid, Spain.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits has brightened following the data release, making Anavex stock the sixth-most trending ticker on Stocktwits.

The sentiment meter trended in the “extremely bullish” (95/100) territory, improving from a “neutral” position a day ago, with message volume spiking to “extremely high.”

One Stocktwits user sees scope for further upside in the near term. While noting that the short interest in the stock is 21%, the user said a short squeeze-fueled rally could materialize if the European Medicines Agency accepts the regulatory application for blarcamesine.

As of 2:45 pm ET, Anavex shares rallied 16.29% to $6.64, having pulled back from an intraday high of $7.37. The stock has crossed the $7 threshold for the first time this year.

Read Next: Apple Stock Slips Ahead Of Q4 Results As Analyst Loses Sleep Over Guidance: Retail Mood Stays Sour

For updates and corrections email newsroom@stocktwits.com