BIOPHARMACEUTICALS: A CRUCIAL AND GROWING SECTOR

The global pharmaceutical market has been expanding over the last several decades and this expansion will continue. Smaller biotech companies are fuelling innovation for big pharmaceutical firms and for the market in general.

There are several reasons for optimism at this time. The worldwide pharmaceutical sector has seen rapid growth to $643 billion in 2006, with a compound annual growth rate of 10% between 1999 and 2006, according to industry researcher URCH Publishing. Drug companies have enjoyed extremely high returns on investment capital in recent years as well as a favorable company survivorship rate compared with many other industries, notes investment author and economist Larry MacDonald.

Demographic trends strongly suggest the need for growth in the pharmaceutical sector to support future medical needs - particularly in ANAVEX’s areas of focus. In North America, the aging of the baby boom generation is already enhancing the demand for new, disease-modifying treatments for serious age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. Meanwhile, the rise of new middle class populations in emerging markets, such as China and India, has created a vast new international market for the best medications available. Companies that can help to satisfy such needs are poised for enormous success.

A NEW GENERATION OF DRUGS

Alzheimer’s disease
According to the World Health Organization, dementia currently affects an estimated 37 million people worldwide and approximately 50% of these cases are caused by Alzheimer’s disease. The worldwide prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease was 26.6 million in 2006 as reported by Johns Hopkins University. By 2050, it will quadruple and 1 in 85 people worldwide will be living with the disease. Medications currently available to treat Alzheimer’s disease only treat symptoms of the disease - they do not stop its onset and progression. As such, there are very real and unmet medical requirements for drug therapies to treat this serious disease.

Epilepsy
It is estimated that 50 million people are living with epilepsy worldwide, according to the International Bureau for Epilepsy. New drugs that can modify the onset and progression of epilepsy are needed and have blockbuster potential. Such drugs would have a novel mode of action that combines anti-amnesic, anxiolytic and neuroprotective (i.e. protects nerve cells from degeneration or death) properties, as well as excellent safety and low toxicity. ANAVEX is currently developing drug candidates demonstrating the above properties.

Cancer
Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality, with seven million deaths per year globally. In the US, one in two men and one in three women will develop cancer during their lifetime. From diagnosis, five year survival is 64% in the US and lower in other countries. Currently available treatments are not effective for all patients, and have limited impact on survival for patients with metastatic disease. New treatments with novel mechanisms of action that can overcome resistance mechanisms, inhibit tumor cell proliferation, and trigger tumor cell death could offer greater therapeutic benefit and improved survival. The ANAVEX program of sigma receptor agonists is designed to achieve these benefits, while reducing toxicity to normal cells. Given the substantial unmet need, such agents have the potential to become blockbusters.