Re-Up From 2015! Sandra Boenish, Vancouver’s Finest, CFO to the Stars – AVXL, NAKD, Lincoln Park

[The following is from 2015, but just as relevant today. Seven years later, Scamavex (AVXL) is still around, and retail idiots are piling into the stock in front of yet another sure-to-be-data-mined-to-death release of study results. Past is prologue, and pedigree counts. With that in mind, enjoy this blast from the past….]

Today we quickly examine the sad state of retail favorite, but blindingly obvious bio-turd, lovingly referred to as Scamavex (AVXL). If one follows us on Twitter, (@buyersstrike) one would have seen warnings that Anavex Life Sciences (AVXL) is really just a plaything of Vancouver stock promoter Harvey Lalach. In fact, the common refrain is that “One can take the company out of Vancouver, but you can never take Vancouver out of the company.”

And in fact, the company did pick up and move, to shiny offices in New York City. And yet, the pull of Vancouver is strong. Just a few weeks ago Anavex announced the hiring of a new CFO. Sandra Boenisch. A quick read of the 8K filing announcing her arrival, and a look at her resume, leads to more questions than answers.

Take a look:

Ms. Boenisch, age 34, has no family relationship with any other officer or director of the Company. With respect to the Company, Ms. Boenisch has not had a direct or indirect material interest in any transaction described in Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. In connection with Ms. Boenisch’s appointment as Principal Financial Officer, the Company and Ms. Boenisch entered into an employment agreement commencing on October 1, 2015 and ending on September 30, 2017, whereby: (a) the Company shall pay to Ms. Boenisch an annual base salary of Seventy-Eight Thousand and 00/100 Canadian Dollars ($78,000 CAD)

A CFO capable of handing the workload of a ~380mm USD market cap biotech (at time of writing) that supposedly has the cure for Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease (if the dumb donkey longs and touts are to be believed) can be hired for just $78,000 CAD per year salary (roughly $59,500 USD at time of writing)? Really?

Why is a supposedly American biotech company, based in NYC, paying its newly minted superstar CFO in Canadian dollars? Perhaps we need to take a look at her resume. Here is the resume portion of the 8k:

Ms. Boenisch has been an independent consultant, providing financial reporting services to a range of public companies in the United States and Canada since January 2012. From 2008 until 2012, Ms. Boenisch was employed at BDO Canada LLP (Vancouver, BC) where she was hired as a Senior Accountant and was later promoted to Manager, Audit Assurance. Ms. Boenisch specialized in managing assurance engagements for public companies in the United States and Canada. Prior to that, Ms. Boenisch worked for a public accounting firm beginning in 2001.

Well there is our Vancouver connection, but she has no experience as a CFO, and none in biotech. And what did she do between January 2012 and getting this amazing job at revolutionary, world-changing, Anavex? The 8K says she was an independent consultant. However her LinkedIn page says something very different.

That’s not what the 8K filing says, now is it?

It turns out she does have some experience in the past with a public company, Naked Brand Group, Inc is actually publicly traded Naked Brands (NAKD). Insert your own jokes about Anavex’s head of Business Development and Investor Relations, Nell Rebowe, here.

Sure enough, just like Anavex, Naked Brands started life as a Nevada shell company, in this case a little piece of junk called “SearchByHeadlines.com” (SBHL) which obtained a listing in 2007. The Headlines shell then acquired a dismal little underwear company called Naked Boxer Brief Clothing, Inc. creating yet another wretched reverse merger polluting the lower reaches of Wall Street (& Howe Street) NAKD.

Sandra joined NAKD a year later, in May 2013 as VP of Finance.

But being a piece of junk Canadian company merged into a Nevada shell, and hiring Sandra Boenish, are not the only things AVXL and NAKD have in common. There’s more.

In September of 2013, NAKD announced with great fanfare an investment from an institutional investor. Retail longs seem incapable of understanding that difference between a legitimate long term institutional investor, and what could kindly be described as the newest incarnation of 90s death-spiral shops. Here is a chart of NAKD’s share price from the date of that investment, 16 September 2013 until today.

Share price from 16 Sept 2013 until present.

Pretty impressive performance. The investor? Why none other than AVXL’s recently announced institutional investor, the sharks at Lincoln Park Capital. Read more about Lincoln Park here.

And take a look at the most recent press release from Anavex, trumpting an abstract of what we will charitably call a “study”, that is no more than a small collection of completely uncontrolled, unblinded, anecdotes about their snake oil Anavex 2-73. The important bit is at the bottom:

Shareholder & Media Relations
Toll-free: 1-866-505-2895
Outside North America: +1 (416) 489-0092

A 416 (Ontario) area code for a NYC-based, Nevada corporation, with a CFO in Vancouver? Odd, right? A quick search of that number leads to a stock promotion outfit in Toronto, Primoris Group, a firm with 2 co-founders who are no strangers to the seedy world of micro-crap Canadian stock message boards.

Maybe we’ll tear apart Anavex‘s ridiculous “study” claims over the weekend. Until then, lets see how the dynamic CFO and IR due of Sandra and Nell do, especially with their Toronto stock pumping friends.

The content contained in this blog represents only the opinions of the author. The author may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice, and should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. This blog is not a solicitation of business: all inquiries will be ignored. The content herein is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.

Better Late Than Never – (CODX)

Shot: https://buyersstrike.com/2020/04/21/anyone-remember-zika-diagnostics-inc-codx/

Chaser: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2023/34-97834.pdf

The scAmavex CTAD Slides “they” don’t want you to see. (AVXL)

Last night, December 1st, Vancouverite Harvey Lalach‘s most successful stock promotion ever, Anavex (AVXL), lovingly known here as scAmavex, finally revealed long awaited, and amazingly laughable, data from their trial of blarcarmasine (aka Anavex2-73) in Alzheimer’s Disease.

As befitting a filthy reverse merger bioturd, the presentation was so laughable, the results so ludicrous, the accompanying press release so misleading that it was sure to generate intense criticism. So much so that the company quickly removed the slides from their website.

So please consider yourselves lucky, dear readers, as we have the original slide deck preserved for posterity right here.

Enjoy!

One can only wonder what Sandra and Nell think about all of this.

THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

Just When Can a CrapCo File an S-3? (CYDY)

Yesterday after the market close, everybody’s favorite pink sheet reverse-merger zombie crapcompany, Cytodyn (CYDY), filed an S-3 with the SEC (read it here) to register nearly 209mm shares of stock for sale by outside investors. The NaDDiR* might be gone, but most of his klown krew remains, and so does the Cytoklowning. In this particular case, it is possible that the company is disqualified from registering stock on a Form S-3.

Obviously, this is something for the Corporate Finance division at the SEC to determine, but lets look at the rules.

Form S-3 is a simpler form allowing companies to register stock for resale by investors. In order to use a Form S-3 (as opposed to the more complicated, and stringent, Form S-1), a company must meet a particular set of criteria available on the SEC website (here). The relevant section for our purposes is I.A.3.(b), which says:

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MONKEYPOX UPDATE: Everything Old is New Again: The Continuing Saga of Bioscam Nanoviricides (NNVC)

NOTE: This post has been re-upped, and updated, because it seems a whole new group of stuck-at-home investors have heard the siren song of this pox upon the public markets.

Never one to let an overblown media frenzy over a disease scare to go to waste, long-running biocon Nanoviricides (NNVC) is back.

Read the backstory from 2014 on this scam, here, in a great piece by Duff McDonald in the New York Observer. Check out some of our notes here and here, and an amazing expose of NNVC and CTIX/IPIX‘s Krishna Menon here.

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When is a Conference Presentation NOT Really a Conference Presentation? (NWBO)

Today is the big day. 4 June 2022. The date the retail cult around decades old bioturd, and current John M. Fife plaything, Northwest Biotherapeutics (NWBO) believe the company is “presenting” their “successful” Phase 3 data for their utterly useless dendritic cell vaccine for brain cancer (DC-Vax) at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Conference in Chicago.

Of course, just like all of their previously hyped appearances there is much less here than meets the eye.

Deluded longs, fed by social media scoundrels and relentless promotional campaigns, might believe NWBO is giving a legitimate presentation at the conference, invited because of scientific merit. However the reality is that Northwest Bio is not presenting at ASCO per se, rather the company is participating in something called the “Industry Expert Theater.”

So instead of being in the main hall, Northwest is shilling its wares (namely its share certs) back by the food court. The presentation is unofficial, unendorsed, and unaccredited. But what it IS, is bought-and-paid for advertorial nonsense. Unlike legitimate presentations where the speakers are invited by the organizers to share legitimate scientific breakthroughs and engage in legitimate scientific debate, IET presentations are bought and paid for bullshit. How much does it cost to hype your bullshit cancer quackery at ASCO?

Just $95,000 and you too can “present” at ASCO, just like NWBO! What a great use of stock promotion budget. One can read more about the IET here.

THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

What Cytoklowning Was Revealed This Week? (CYDY)

Last week, everybody’s favorite pink sheet reverse-merger Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), began issuing a barrage of press releases (read about one here) culminating in one of their now-famous CONference calls, which you can watch here. In these calls, The NaDDiR* and his klown krew mumble incoherently, throw around tons of buzz words, and generally try to keep the suckers happy as the stock promotion lurches from one pivot to another.

On December 9, 2021, one of the Cytodyn press releases trumpeted the filing of an Expanded Access Protocol request by the company with the FDA, to allow for the use of loserlimab in HIV patients. Read it here. Expanded Access allows companies to offer unapproved drugs to patients outside of a clinical trial. Said the company:

Just five days later, on the December 14th CONference call, The NaDDiR* let this slip:

Ooops. A problem with the protocol. Did NaDDiR actually admit they “didn’t do a good job” with the submission? What could be the problem? The FDA accepts ~99% of EA submissions, so what are the reasons why the FDA would reject a submission for Expanded Access? That’s easy. The list is here:

If the curmudgeons at BuyersStrike! HQ had to guess, the FDA probably determined that either under part 2, Cytodyn was not actually pursuing marketing approval with appropriate diligence (ie the BLA submission was a pathetic joke) or part 3, there is not sufficient clinical evidence of effectiveness. Cytodyn only reports the results of one tiny Phase 3 study in HIV, and has offered no confirmatory evidence.

Just more of the endless Cytoklowning from the Klown Krew.

* Spelled Thusly For A Double Dose of That Sweet Sweet Stock Pimping

What Lemon Is Cytodyn Squeezing into Lemonade Today? (CYDY)

Starting yesterday, December 8th, everybody’s favorite pink sheet reverse-merger Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), has issued a flurry of press releases. As always, it is important to read anything The NaDDiR* and his Klown Krew put out very carefully. Not just for what is said, but for what is unsaid.

One of the December 9th press releases, entitled “CytoDyn Submits Protocol with the FDA for Phase 3 Registrational Trial of Leronlimab for Critically Ill COVID-19 Population” has a classic NaDDiRism:

Of course, this is misleading because the FDA does not APPROVE trials. The FDA only ACCEPTS or REJECTS trial protocols. Legitimate companies that are not trying to hype their prospects to gullible investors use the proper language. Scams and cons, on the other hand?

But that is just routine Cytobullshit. The really interesting bit is this, where they excerpt some communications with the FDA, but fail to provide context:

For months now Cytodyn has been trying to restart the EIND/Expanded Access loserlimab for Covid program, or as we call it here at BuyersStrike! HQ, the perpetual anecdote machine. Naturally, Cytodyn has failed. It appears that back in August and again in November the company asked the agency to accept an Expanded Access program. Expanded Access allows patients to try an unapproved therapy outside of a clinical trial. The FDA has clearly said “no, you have to do a proper trial.”

While this is a flat out rejection, will the company and its shills try to pitch this as some sort of support from the FDA, instead of just a boilerplate rejection letter? After all, didn’t the FDA say the trial “appears feasible“, that has to be good, right?

Actually no, one of the criteria for the FDA to allow Expanded Access to a drug outside of a clinical trial, is that a clinical trial must not be feasible. By stating that running a trial is feasible, the agency is actually telling Cytodyn why their request for Expanded Access was denied.

While this is a flat out rejection, will the company and its shills try to pitch this as some sort of support from the FDA, instead of just a boilerplate rejection letter?

When the FDA gives CYDY lemons, of course The NaDDiR* will try to make lemonade!

* Spelled Thusly For A Double Dose of That Sweet Sweet Stock Pimping

Just What Country Hasn’t Cytodyn Mentioned In A While? (CYDY)

If you are anything like the curmudgeonly crew at BuyersStrike! HQ you probably try to keep a list, mental or otherwise, of all of the ridiculous claims made by everybody’s favorite pink sheet reverse-merger Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY). Oftentimes these exaggerated plans deal with very specific countries which seem to flit in and out of press releases with little rhyme or reason.

One of those countries, as you might remember from the Spring of 2021, is Canada. Don’t recall The NaDDiR* hyping up Canada as a potential EUA and even as a revenue source for loserlimab? Of course you do. Here’s a mention from an early March, 2021 webcast:

Not only will CYDY file for an Interim Order, the Canadian equivalent of an Emergency Use Authoriziation, but The NaDDiR* went as far as to suggest they might charge for loserlimab. This was quickly followed up in a conference call later in March:

So, as of March 23, 2021, the company has submitted a timeline to Health Canada, to start the Interim Order process. The NaDDir* gives an update about two weeks later:

Here he claims that on the 15th of April they will submit the necessary paperwork for the Interim Order, and again suggests they might be able to sell product in Canada.

On the 19th of April, Cytodyn announces that it has submitted part, and only part, of the Interim Order application. In a press release the company stated that the remaining sections would be submitted in the very near future:

Two or so weeks later, on another webcast, The NaDDiR* claims the submission could be finished by June, with a decision in July. Now he isn’t so sure they can sell loserlimab, but he promises to ask:

And since then, nothing but crickets from Cytodyn and its Klown Krew about getting an IO, let alone selling product, in Canada?

Dear readers, do you wonder why?

Surprising nobody with an IQ to the right of the median, the request for the Interim Order with Health Canada expired after six months because Cytodyn never completed the application for loserlimab! No actual complete submission was ever made. Sound familiar?

So what did the company actually submit to Health Canada?

See it all for yourself right here. The company knew at least by June 15, 2021 that they would not get an Interim Order from Health Canada, and that the clinical data to support any application would not actually be available until the very end of this year. Did The NaDDiR* ever tell you?

Or did he just pivot to the next country? Brazil? India? Philippines?

* Spelled Thusly For A Double Dose of That Sweet Sweet Stock Pimping

What Documents Did Cytodyn Never Want You to See? (CYDY)

Late yesterday, the 26th of October, one-time-NaDDiR*-favorite, Amarex, filed its response to the lawsuit (Case 8:21-cv-02533-PJM, see here.) initiated by everybody’s favorite pink sheet reverse-merger Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY).

Inside the filings are some bombshell documents that The NaDDiR* and his Klown Krew surely never wanted you to see. They most certainly did not want CYDY longs to read any of these before tomorrow’s vote to grant the company an additional 200mm authorized shares, along with insane compensation for insiders.

For a start, how about this insane April 14, 2020, email from the the NaDDiR* to Amarex’s Kush Dhody, in which The NaDDiR, obsessed with the stock price and message board criticism, instructs his Krew to knowingly file an incomplete BLA:

And sure enough the something resembling a BLA was filed, and the company proudly (and falsely) announced that the completed BLA was submitted on the 27th of April:

As we all know, this was a lie. Just over one week later the company backtracked, but hid the disclosure in the boilerplate at the bottom of a press release. Finally, on May 11, they fessed up:

Surprising nobody, except the deluded retail longs who comprise the CYDY shareholder base, the FDA issued a Refusal To File (RTF) letter. For almost a year, The NaDDiR* has, himself, refused to divulge the contents of the letter. Originally The NaDDiR* claimed the issue was just the syringes. If that was true, why is the RTF letter 20 pages long? But today you can read it for yourself. Some choice tidbits:

Ooops. Did the company even file the BLA under the proper pathway? Last time anyone at BuyersStrike! HQ checked, biologics aren’t approved under 505(b)(1) or (2).

Sterility testing? We don’t need no testing because loserlimab “saveZ teH livEz” (at least according to the shills and morons who believe), plus sterility testing takes money away from stock promotion:

Did The NaDDiR* write the “Prescribing Information” section himself?

There is so much more to see in this letter, but don’t take our word for it. Read it for yourself.

* Spelled Thusly For A Double Dose of That Sweet Sweet Stock Pimping

Re-Up From 2020: How Can Franklin J. Schaffner’s Masterpiece Help Investors?

[NB: An evergreen post originally from June 2020. The recent news about NKLA makes it more relevant than ever.]

From the 29th Scroll, 6th Verse:

“Beware the reverse merger, for it is the devil’s pawn. Alone among listed stocks it exists as shells, or SPACs, or zombie firms. Yea, it will jump on any trend to excite and possess the masses’ cash. Let them not list in great numbers, for they will make a mockery of exchanges and regulators. Shun them. Drive them back into their bucket shops lairs, for they are the harbingers of massive losses.”

Say it with us, “ALL Reverse Mergers Are Scams, In One Way or Another.“