Anavex Life Sciences Corp. announced the first entire clinical gene pathway data from the ANAVEX®2-73-RS-002 AVATAR Rett syndrome trial. A whole genome and exome analysis comparing drug and placebo in patients with Rett syndrome was performed.

The company believe the results confirm that Rett syndrome is indeed a neurodevelopmental disorder with a key metabolic component, which can be addressed with therapeutic intervention and is likely relevant for other neurodevelopmental disease indications. AVATAR study was a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial in 33 patients with Rett syndrome which included prespecified biomarkers of response as well as Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) DNA data and full RNA exome expression (RNA-seq) data collection. The study included analysis of gene expression changes in each treatment group as well as analysis of the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms/variants (SNPs/SNVs) on treatment response.