Anavex Life Sciences Joins The Club Of Stocks Moving Higher On News Of Alzheimer's Research

Wall Street analysts have shown a bullish sentiment towards pharmaceutical and healthcare companies that focus on the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

A few days ago, BMO Capital Market's hosted a conference call with Dr. Dennis Selkoe, a leading Alzheimer's diseases researcher. The takeaway from the call was that Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE: LLY)'s investigational drug called Solanezumab has a high likelihood of seeing success in its clinical testing.

BMO analysts estimate Eli Lilly's therapy has a 75 percent probability of success which is higher than Dr. Selkoe's 60 percent estimate. Analysts maintained an Outperform rating and $94 price target on Eli Lilly's stock.

Similarly, analysts at Brean Capital assumed coverage of Axsome Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: AXSM), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, with a Buy rating and a $20 price target, which implies a potential upside of more than 150 percent.

Axsome holds a product candidate called AXS-05 which is used for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The therapy has shown to be effective in activating central nervous system receptors.

Anavex Life Sciences Announces New Collaboration

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: AVXL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that also develops therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other central nervous system diseases, announced Wednesday it established a new partnership with Ariana Pharma.

As part of the agreement, Anavex will use Ariana's KEM (Knowledge, Extraction, Management) patient stratification technology to accelerate its ANAVEX 2-73's Phase 2/3 Alzheimer's clinical development timeline.

"The ongoing Phase 2a Alzheimer's clinical trial was specifically designed to learn as much as possible about ANAVEX 2-73 in order to optimize trial parameters for future pivotal trials and potentially reduce the risk of failure in a later, larger Phase 2/3 study and in a planned Parkinson's Phase 2 study. We believe that the collaboration with Ariana Pharma will potentially accelerate the development process," said Christopher U. Missling, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anavex.