Earnings call transcript: Anavex Life Sciences Q4 2024 sees net loss, stock rises

Anavex Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ:AVXL) reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024, revealing a net loss of $12.1 million, or $0.14 per share. Despite the loss, the company’s stock saw a 3.74% rise in premarket trading, reaching $8.60. According to InvestingPro data, the company maintains a strong financial position with a current ratio of 8.86, confirming its ability to meet short-term obligations. The company highlighted significant progress in its Alzheimer’s treatment trials and maintained a strong cash position with no debt.

Key Takeaways

• Anavex reported a net loss of $12.1 million in Q4 2024.
• The company has a cash runway of approximately four years, with $120.8 million in cash and no debt.
• Anavex’s Alzheimer’s treatment, blarcamesine, showed promising trial results with a 36.3% slowdown in disease progression.
• The stock price rose by 3.74% in premarket trading, reflecting positive investor sentiment.

Company Performance

Anavex Life Sciences continues to focus on its lead drug candidate, blarcamesine, for Alzheimer’s disease. The company reported significant progress in its Phase 2b/3 trial, demonstrating a 36.3% slowdown in clinical progression over 48 weeks. This positions Anavex as a competitive player in the Alzheimer’s treatment market, which is traditionally dominated by monoclonal antibody treatments.

Financial Highlights

• Cash position: $120.8 million as of December 31, 2024
• Net loss: $12.1 million, or $0.14 per share
• General and administrative expenses: $3.1 million, up from $2.7 million in the previous quarter
• Research and development expenses: $10.4 million, up from $8.7 million in the previous quarter

Market Reaction

Anavex Life Sciences’ stock rose by 3.74% in premarket trading, reaching $8.60. This increase comes despite a 5.9% decline in the previous session. While the stock has shown volatility, InvestingPro data reveals a significant 34.58% gain over the past six months. Based on InvestingPro’s Fair Value analysis, the stock appears slightly overvalued at current levels. The stock’s movement reflects positive investor sentiment towards the company’s advancements in Alzheimer’s treatment and its robust financial position.

Executive Commentary

CEO Christopher Missling highlighted the company’s progress, stating, "We are receiving growing support from stakeholders for the potential to advance a novel precision medicine treatment for early Alzheimer’s disease." He also emphasized the safety profile of blarcamesine, noting, "Over nine years, there has been no death caused by the drug."

Risks and Challenges

• Regulatory hurdles: Anavex must navigate complex regulatory processes, including an upcoming European Medicines Agency review.
• Competitive landscape: The company faces competition from established monoclonal antibody treatments.
• Financial sustainability: Despite a strong cash position, continued research and development expenses could impact future financial stability.
• Market acceptance: Gaining market acceptance for a novel treatment approach remains a challenge.

Anavex Life Sciences is poised for potential growth with its innovative approach to Alzheimer’s treatment. However, the company must address the outlined risks to maintain investor confidence and achieve long-term success.

Full transcript - Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL) Q1 2025:

Clint Tomlinson, Conference Call Host, Anavex Life Sciences: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Anavex Life Sciences Fiscal twenty twenty five First Quarter Conference Call. My name is Clint Tomlinson, and I will be your host for today’s call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode, and later, we will conduct a question and answer session. During this session, if you would like to ask a question, please use the Q and A box or raise your hand. Note that this conference is being recorded.

The call will be available for replay on Anavex’s website at www.anavex.com. With us today is Doctor. Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer and Sondra Bernish, Principal Financial (NASDAQ:PFG) Officer. Before we begin, please note that this conference call, the company will make some projections and forward looking statements. These statements are only predictions based on current information and expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties.

We encourage you to review the company’s filings with the SEC. This includes without limitation the company’s forms 10 ks and 10 Q, which identify the specific factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in these forward looking statements. These factors may include without limitation risks inherent in the development and or commercialization of potential products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. And with that, I’d like to turn the call over to doctor Missling.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you, Clint, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for being with us today to review our most recently reported financial results and to provide our quarterly business update. I would like to point out that we are receiving growing support from stakeholders for the potential to advance a novel precision medicine treatment for early Alzheimer disease with convenient oral dosing and with potential clinical meaningful benefit. We are excited to be potentially making a difference for individuals suffering from Alzheimer disease by presenting a scalable treatment alternative alongside the ease of oral administration. Last month, we provided top line long term data from the phase two b slash three attention AD open label extension trial.

The data demonstrated that over three years of continuous treatment with plaqueminesine significantly reduced clinical decline, showing continued clinical meaningful benefit for early Alzheimer disease patients. Also in January, we announced that the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer Disease, JPET, published a peer reviewed detailed results from the Phase IIbthree study, evaluating oral blecharmazine for the treatment of early Alzheimer disease. Once daily oral blackamazine demonstrating a safety profile with no associated neuroimaging adverse events significantly slowed clinical progression by thirty six point three percent at forty eight weeks with plaquami gene group, as well as the prespecified sigma one wild type gene group by forty nine point eight percent at forty eight weeks on the prespecified primary cognitive endpoint, ADAS COG13, respectively. The peer reviewed publication of this data underscores the significance of the findings for both the scientific community and those focused on Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer disease is a highly complex condition, and this dataset plays a crucial role in advancing our understanding of the phase two b slash three results.

We are grateful for the dedication from participants, the families, and the sites for taking part in this important study. Finally, at the January, we announced that Anavex was issued a new composition of meta US patent expected to remain in force at least until July 2039 entitled A2seventy three Crystalline Polymorph compositions of meta and method of use thereof from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This new patent claims crystalline forms of the dihydrogen phosphate salt of Anavex two seventy three free base, as well as transdermal patches and etheric coated oral dosage forms, including the same for neuroprotection and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson Parkinson disease, and other disorders. The issuance of this US patent again showcases our expertise in identifying and pursuing novel therapeutic forms and formulations that are rooted in science. With respect to ANAVEX371, which will now include more participants at the longer treatment duration within Part b, ANAVEX expects data from the ongoing Part b of the placebo controlled Phase two study in schizophrenia in the first half of twenty twenty five.

And now I would like to direct the call to Sandeep Boerneisch, Principal Financial Officer of Anavex, for a financial summary of the recently reported quarter.

Sondra Bernish, Principal Financial Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you, Christopher. Good morning, everyone. I’m pleased to share with you today our first quarter financial results for the 2025 fiscal year. Our cash position at December 31 was $120,800,000 and we had no debt. During the quarter, we utilized cash and cash equivalents of $12,100,000 in operating activities after taking into account changes in noncash working capital accounts.

As of quarter end, we anticipate at the current cash utilization rate and range a runway of approximately four years. During our most recent quarter, general and administrative expenses were $3,100,000 as compared to $2,700,000 for the comparable first quarter. Our research and development expenses for the quarter were $10,400,000 as compared to $8,700,000 for the comparable first quarter. And lastly, we reported a net loss of $12,100,000 for the quarter or $0.14 per share. Thanks.

And back to you, Christopher.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you, Sandra. In summary, we are receiving growing support from stakeholders for the potential to advance a novel treatment for early Alzheimer disease with convenient oral dosing and with potential clinically meaningful benefit. We are very excited to be potentially making a difference for individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease by presenting a scalable treatment alternative alongside the ease of all administration using precision medicine. I would now like to turn the call back to Clint for Q and A.

Clint Tomlinson, Conference Call Host, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you, Christopher. And it looks like the first question is coming from Tom Bishop. Hold, please. Tom, can you hear us? Now.

I can hear you now, Tom.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Good. With regards to the next few months, I guess we’re hoping for some word from Europe around midyear or is that the timeline? I thought I heard six months, but then there’s then I heard maybe it could be longer.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: So we will expect the review to take two ten days since filing, which was in November, and it was accepted in December the following months, less than thirty days after the filing. So we are prepared for this review, and we’re looking forward to it.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: So that would be, like, July ish or maybe September?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: We expect the feedback for the review to complete it in by the end of this year. I don’t know more specifics at this time. So that’s why we are right there for.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Okay. Now was there any discussion about a priority review of any sort, or that ship has sailed?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: The requirement for that is a prime status. And since we filed without the prime because we were encouraged to file without the prime because of the unmet need, this is a procedure which is 250,000. Okay.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Also, what are the upcoming events that we can look forward to? I guess, we have the three seventy one trial due sometime before by midyear?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: That’s correct. So we expect the ANAVEX three seventy one schizophrenia readout, as we mentioned, in the first half of this year. Then we also are expecting a scientific presentation of detailed data of the open label extension study, attention AD in April at the ADPD conference, which we top lined last month, and the details will be presented at this conference. And further, we will provide updates on the pipeline. We expect updates on the Parkinson’s disease program and other subsequent programs as well.

Clint Tomlinson, Conference Call Host, Anavex Life Sciences: Tom, we don’t hear you.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: You said you are receiving, increasing interest or increasing support. And I was just wondering if you could elaborate elaborate on that. Uh-oh.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: We are getting support from stakeholders, that is advocacy groups across the board, and that’s very encouraging in because the unmet need in the current limited availability of scalable drugs for this horrible condition, and that is includes advocacy group in Europe and around the globe.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Okay. And how about from other pharmaceutical companies? I mean, if this was approved, you need to file you need to start to market it in Europe and produce it and all that. And I guess, you know, one thing people point to is that there has been no hint yet of any interest from a pharma company. So just wondering I think the company has just been quiet about it.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Yes. That’s not accurate, of course. There’s ongoing discussions, and we initiated that last month at JPMorgan. And also regarding the material for marketing the drug, we have enough supply for launching this drug. The manufacturing has been extremely productive to have marketed product ready for the market entry.

Regarding how to move forward in terms of a sales force or a partnership with a pharma company, this is deciding on the terms of those discussions, and the deciding factor guiding factor will be creating the most shareholder value for shareholders. So whatever is in the interest of shareholders, that path will be taken. But there’s no doubt if there’s a drug approved for such an indication, there will be a lot of interest.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Also, what is the status of Rett? Rett Syndrome?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Rett Syndrome, we decided to and we said it a while ago, we plan to do another study to reconfirm and a larger study given that last study was short on number of patients and the placebo arm was small giving some volatility in the endpoints. So we are planning to do another study in Rett syndrome as well. And this is one of what I refer to updates will come, accordingly throughout this year.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Okay. It’s been a while since that last trial ended, so I just wondering what, what’s the

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: We align with the courses and we also like to focus on what is most creating most value right now. This is the Ultima program and the filing of the Ultima indication was the most priority for us last few months.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Okay. And you mentioned the crystalline patent. And I was just wondering what, how significant is that? It was hard to tell.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: It’s actually very significant. And I think that should be pointed out. Thanks for asking the question that this crystallized patent API was actually used in all prior clinical studies. So it’s not a new patent which has been suddenly, you know, identified as a patentable composition of matter, but these trials which we ran in Alzheimer’s disease were all utilizing these composition of matter of the patent, which expires at the earliest, in July 2038 02/1939. And that’s very important because that means our composition of meta is protected for the entire spectrum of these indications, including Alzheimer disease as well as Parkinson’s disease for the for the capsule or the tablets used with the respective API, which will be the case as well in the market.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: That is very good news then. Also, any update on Parkinson?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Yeah. As I said, we will update Parkinson program. We had interaction with regulatory bodies, and we will provide an update accordingly shortly about how to proceed with Parkinson disease program.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Anything on the FDA as far as glaucomeracine goes?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: We for Alzheimer disease, we are planning to have a meeting, and that is what we did with EMA with the dialogue, with a very open dialogue in a meeting to request and share the data and asking what is the recommended procedure for us to proceed. And we’re looking forward to this interaction.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: Okay. Great. And are the OLE patients still on the drug? Or

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: They are actually. And we mentioned it at the last press release when we mentioned the OLE data that the seventy four people, participants are still on study drug as a comp on a compassionate use program, and we will also follow-up with them for real world evidence. And we expect data from that as well going forward. So that’s very encouraging that after four years of total intake of the drug in the placebo controlled part as well as in the open label part, patients still continue to take the drug and are requesting to be on study drug. And we are able for that reason to use this additional population for real world evidence potentially.

And so far, nobody died from the drug in our study and outside of the study, and that’s actually preceded the phase two slash three that includes also the phase two a, which started over nine years ago. So over nine years, there has been no debt in, caused by the drug.

Tom Bishop, Analyst/Investor: You know, the drug is just amazing in its advantages over these infusion therapy drugs. And it’s just, you know, I’m very excited. Well, thank you for answering my questions.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you.

Clint Tomlinson, Conference Call Host, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you, Tom. There’s another question here, Doctor. Missling, if you wanted to expand on that, if you want to expand on that, the a brief overview of efficacy compared to the monoclonal antibodies?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: So it’s important to point out that there’s a requirement for clinically meaningfulness and that’s been recently published in our paper twenty twenty four, which we also pointed out or cited in one of the last press releases on the efficacy data on the open label as well as the paper publication on jpad. And that threshold is a a two point score or more delta of ADASCOG. And we demonstrated in our trials a AddisCOX thirteen of 2.03 for the entire population, all participants. That means we are clinic clearly clinically meaningful because that means that a patient, a participant can identify these changes himself, herself, but also the caregiver can identify these changes, as well as the physician can identify these changes. And every score less than that would be not identifiable.

And to put this in perspective, our ATLAS COG 13 over forty eight weeks reached that level of two point or more. And in comparison, Kizunla or Donanamab from Lilly reached for the Adascoq thirteen exactly the same score, a score only of 1.35 delta to placebo, and that would not meet the clinically meaningful threshold of two point or more. And it was also reached after a much longer period of time, this 1.35. So we are better and earlier in identifying improvement compared to placebo with plaqueminesine. And that comes on top of the advantage of a oral once daily administration, which is, mechanistically probably closer to the complexity or origination of the disease, which is ahead or earlier than a beta in tau aggregation and inflammation and other dysfunctions, which are within this disease than other drugs, including the monoclonal antibodies, which are targeting further downstream limited pathways, for example, the A beta pathway, which has recently gotten in a bit of critique because of the focus on this and the support, which was criticized in some media recently as well.

But there’s no doubt that we are happy to consider glacamizine as a potentially complementary to existing treatments that includes the antibodies, but also existing treatments, which is donepezil and memantine, which was demonstrated in our trial to be on the data was on top of Placamazine, on top of Donepezil and Memantine. So our effect is basically on top of standard of care available at the time of the of the trial. But again, the key thing is that the scalability, the ecosystem of the healthcare would be better suited with oral ones daily. And given its ability not to cause serious deaths is the antibodies are doing, and that’s why they have a black box warning. That means you can die from this drug in case of the antibodies.

And you need to have a physician which has to be very courageous to prescribe this drug. And given that it has to monitor the effect on the patient very carefully and requires a mandatory MRI every three weeks. And this requires contrast medium. It’s not a trivial task also to find appointment for an MRI. And MRI centers are not widely spread out.

In the Midwest. You have defied any. And that is probably also the contribution of slow uptake of the antibodies and the limited ability to expand this into a broader patient population with diverse background and location. That would be overcome with oral once daily small molecule like the bacamecine, of course.

Clint Tomlinson, Conference Call Host, Anavex Life Sciences: Well, thank you for that. Another question, and I think it’s the last one here is, assuming an EMA approval, what other countries may follow and open the markets to glaucomaecine?

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: So we are planning to submit to other jurisdictions, among them in The UK and others, Canada and Australia have been also participating in this trial. That will probably happen before the end of the year. So we’re expanding this, and I mentioned the plan for The U. S. As well, which will be a dialogue with the agency as well.

So we’re expanding the jurisdictions of beyond EMA because of the unmet need.

Clint Tomlinson, Conference Call Host, Anavex Life Sciences: Excellent. Thank you. I believe that’s all the questions at this time, Doctor. Messon.

Christopher Missling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you. So in closing, we’d like to continue to focus on execution and commercial readiness as we advance our therapeutic pipeline to potentially improve patients’ lives with these devastating conditions. I’d like to thank you for your attention. Thank you.

Clint Tomlinson, Conference Call Host, Anavex Life Sciences: Thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. This concludes our conference call. We appreciate your participation. You may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.