Colorectal cancer, also called colon cancer or bowel cancer, includes cancerous growths in the colon, rectum, anus and appendix. It is an extremely common form of cancer and overall, the second leading cause of death among cancers in the western world. Colon cancer is 2.5 times more common than rectal cancer while anal cancers account for fewer than 4% of all lower gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.Colorectal cancer is a disease that originates in the epithelial cells lining the gastrointestinal tract. Cancer of the colon occurs when there are abnormal cells that result in a tumor. Many of the abnormal cells first develop as polyps inside the colon or rectum which with time can become cancerous and metastasize.Tumors grow through a process of clonal expansion, driven by mutations, which confer growth advantages on the expanding clones. Sigma receptors are highly expressed in different tumor cell types and, when correctly solicitated by appropriate sigma-1 and/or sigma-2 ligands they induced apoptosis of cancer cells. On the other hand, voltage-gated sodium channels, expressed by tumor cells play an important role in metastasis and (cancer) cells proliferation and M3 muscarinic receptors positively regulate proliferation and angiogenesis required for tumor progression.Colorectal cancer was estimated to have the highest incidence of any tumor type in the seven major pharmaceutical markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, USA and Japan), surpassing that of lung and breast cancer. An estimated 468,725 individuals were estimated to have developed the disease in 2004, with a prevalent population of over 1.5m individuals. The disease is forecasted to have an incidence of 480,570 cases in 2010, with a prevalent population of 1.6 million individuals and by 2015 495,000 (i.e. +2.5% over 2010) and 1.7 million (i.e. +7% over 2010), respectively. The estimated colon cancer market in the year 2015 is $ 15.2 billion

ANAVEX 7-1037 and ANAVEX 8-142
ANAVEX drug candidates ANAVEX 7-1037 and ANAVEX 8-142, are novel compounds that modulate sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors, control voltage-gated sodium channels and volume regulating chloride channels and antagonize M3 muscarinic receptors. Toxicological studies in mice have shown no evidence of adverse events usually observed with conventional anti-cancer drugs. These bioactive compounds have shown evidence of pro-apoptotic properties in cancer cells (in vitro studies). According to our results, so far, they seem to be more effective against colorectal cancer. Further preclinical in vivo studies are currently being conducted using specialized animal models (i.e. in immunodeficient mice) to further assess and analyze potential activity on the inhibition/ prevention of tumor growth, metastasis, angiogenesis and cell proliferation for the above compounds and related derivatives.