Anavex Life Sciences Corp (OTCMKTS:AVXL) is optimistic after it came across the findings of a new report published in peer-reviewed journal Neuroscience Letters. It states that microglial inflammation involved in devastating neurodegenerative diseases can be treated by sigma-1 receptor activation. It has been done through real-time in vivo imaging.
The role
Anavex said that sigma-1 receptor activation plays an important role in reducing the negative reactions rooted from chronic microglia over-activation. The problem kills the cells and results in multiple neurodegenerative diseases. It can be anything from brain injury to severe Alzheimer’s disease. The immune cells of the CNS are termed as Microglia and when a person gets a brain injury these cells enter the damaged region and clear it by engulfing dying neurons.
The problem
Here, it is important to understand that these immune cells can also create problems. In context of several neurological disorders, the cells responses are exaggerated and leads to neurode generation. The trial sums up that the sigma-1 receptor efficiently helps to control this damaging chronic microglial response. Additionally, the response of the sigma-1 receptor on immune cells was found to be specific to control responses as it did not hampered the normal microglia activity within the brain.
Positive findings
The data was considered as positive by Anavex Life Sciences as it confirms the therapeutic impact of sigma-1 receptor agonists. The company’s candidate ANAVEX 2-73 is in a Phase 2a clinical study for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Christopher U. Missling, PhD, the CEO said that results published in journal indicated that increasing sigma-1 receptor response through agonists could mitigate the harmful influence of neuroinflammation and blown up microglial response.
In last trading session, the stock price of Anavex Life Sciences surged more than 21% to close the trading session at $0.325. The share volume was 1.98 million compared to the average volume of 899,216.
