STAT+: Anavex, maker of rare disease drug, keeps shifting the goalposts in its clinical trials

Anavex Life Sciences is in a tough spot. The serial dissembler of clinical trial results might be forced, finally, to tell the truth when it reads out its next study in Rett syndrome.

What sets Anavex apart from all the other biotechs on my radar screen is its habit of shifting the goalposts on clinical trials. Twice last year, first in February and then in December, Anavex announced “positive” outcomes from studies of its drug called blarcamesine — except the results were derived from efficacy endpoints that were not part of the original study designs.

If blarcamesine fails to achieve the pre-determined goals of clinical trials, the thinking apparently goes, then just make a post-hoc change to the study goals.

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