Can Annovis’ New Approach Prove That Alzheimer’s Disease Is No Tough Nut To Crack?

Shares of Annovis Bio Inc. (ANVS) have gained an impressive 76% from their 52-week low of $2.42, recorded last March, and trade around $10.

This clinical-stage company developing novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, made its debut on the NYSE American Exchange on January 29, 2020, by setting a public offering at $6.00 per share.

The lead candidate in the pipeline is ANVS401, which is designed to work by inhibiting the production of multiple neurotoxic brain proteins, specifically, amyloid precursor protein (APP), Tau and a-Synuclein, that have been shown to impair axonal transport and lead to nerve cell death.

While many of the Alzheimer’s drugs in development attempt to remove one toxic protein, ANVS401 inhibits the toxic proteins before they can form, and it inhibits all the major neurotoxic proteins responsible for Alzheimer ‘s disease and Parkinson’s, according to the company.

There is no cure yet for Alzheimer’s. The available medications for Alzheimer’s can only alleviate symptoms temporarily, and they don’t work for everyone.

The success rate of Alzheimer’s clinical trials is dismal. A U.S. study, which analyzed how the Alzheimer’s clinical trials fared during the period of 2002 to 2012, revealed a failure rate of 99.6% compared to a failure rate of 81% for cancer drugs.
From 1998 to 2018 there were over 500 failed attempts at developing Alzheimer’s drugs, primarily focused on amyloid plaque.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease affects an estimated 5.8 million people in the US and 44 million people worldwide. An estimated 1 million people in the U.S. and as many as 10 million globally are estimated to suffer from Parkinson’s disease. The markets for Parkinson’s disease drugs and Alzheimer’s disease drugs are in multibillions of dollars.

Annovis’ ANVS401 is under two phase IIa studies – one is a phase IIa study in early Alzheimer’s disease and another is a phase IIa study targeting early Alzheimer ‘s disease and Parkinson’s patients.

The preliminary data from the phase IIa study of ANVS401 in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s is expected in the first quarter of 2021.

Cash Balance:

The company ended Sep.30, 2020, with cash of $8.84 million, which is expected to be sufficient to fund operations into 2021.

ANVS has thus far hit a low of $2.42 and a high of $11.29. The stock is currently trading at $10.25, up 0.24%.

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