Some of the worst and most deadly diseases affect our brains. In multiple sclerosis, the immune system “causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body,” preventing some victims from walking.” Brain cancer is often a quick killer, while Alzheimer’s, of course, causes victims to slowly lose their cognitive abilities and is always deadly. This means there is a large market for neuroscience stocks to address to help patients find relief.
Schizophrenia, meanwhile, prevents victims from reasoning and behaving rationally. Given the huge amount of deaths, suffering, and financial costs these diseases cause, insurers will pay large amounts of money for drugs that just ease the symptoms of sufferers.
Here are three neuroscience stocks whose issuing companies are making impressive progress in combating these horrible diseases of the brain.
Alector (ALEC)
Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) is developing Alzheimer’s treatments that seek to mobilize the immune system of Alzheimer’s disease victims to combat the disorder.
Encouragingly, the huge biotech firm AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) is partnering with ALEC on the development of the treatments. The willingness of ABBV to spend time and money on developing AL002 indicates that they believe that there’s a good chance of it working.
Also noteworthy is that investment bank Stifel on Dec. 14 upgraded ALEC stock to “Buy.” The firm wrote that the chances of upcoming Phase 2 data for the firm’s AL002 drug being positive were “above average.” The bank raised its price target on the shares to $15 from $8.
Reviva Therapeutics (RVPH)
In October, Reviva Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RVPH) announced positive Phase 3 data for its schizophrenia treatment, brilaroxazine.
Both the 15-milligram and the 50-milligram doses of the drug produced superior results in patients compared to a placebo. However, only the higher dose produced results that were statistically significantly better than the placebo. Still, the data indicate that the 50-milligram dose could very well be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Also noteworthy is that there were no major side effects among patients taking either dose of the drug.
Two other developers of schizophrenia drugs Cerevel Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CERE) and Karuna Therapeutics (NASDAQ:KRTX) were subject to M&A deals by large biotech firms in recent months, causing their stocks to rally sharply. Reviva could easily make a similar deal.
Eisai (ESAIY)
I’ve long been bullish on Eisai (OTC:ESAIY). The Japanese biotech company, in partnership with Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), developed the first Alzheimer’s treatment, Leqembi, that significantly slowed the progression of the disease.
After reading new information about Leqembi, I’m much more upbeat about the drug and ESAIY stock.
According to the publication, “76% of patients who received the under-the-skin injection (of Leqembi) showed no cognitive decline over 18 months, and 60% showed improvement at 18 months.” The patients had “low levels of tau, a protein tied to Alzheimer’s” or had only developed the disease relatively recently.
Still, the fact that so many Alzheimer’s patients’ conditions did not deteriorate while taking the drug and that 60% “showed improvement” bodes extremely well for the drug’s efficacy and for ESAIY stock
Also noteworthy is that Eisai said in November that it hopes to raise the number of patients taking the drug to 10,000 “by the end of March,” way up from the roughly 800 that were taking it in October. The company’s eagerness to treat so many more patients with Leqembi is another sign that the drug is working well.
Given all of these points, Eisai is certainly one of the best neuroscience stocks to buy.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.