PVG Criticizes ISS Support for Anavex Board Nominees

PVG Asset Management Corp, a shareholder of Anavex Life Sciences Corp, has expressed dissatisfaction with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) for supporting the current board’s nominees despite acknowledging years of governance failures and shareholder value destruction. The press release, dated September 14, 2026, outlines several issues identified by ISS in its recent report on Anavex.

According to the report, the board of Anavex has historically failed to exercise effective oversight, leading to challenges from an unsuccessful European drug application. ISS noted that the board played a passive role during the more than 12-year tenure of the previous CEO, who was recently fired. The report also revealed that the board had minimal meetings with corporate officers beyond the former CEO during his tenure.

ISS assigned its lowest possible “QualityScore” of 10 for “Audit & Risk Oversight” at Anavex, citing the current arrangement where the audit, compensation, and nominating and corporate governance committees are chaired by the same person. This situation has persisted since 2018, and ISS found it difficult to interpret as being in the best interests of shareholders. The report also highlighted the lack of director stock ownership, with only one current director holding 5,000 shares.

Anavex’s stock performance has underperformed peers and the Nasdaq Biotech Index, with negative one-, three-, and five-year total shareholder returns. The report noted that the board’s defense of its actions was puzzling, as it failed to acknowledge the lack of a control premium paid by the dissident.

PVG Asset Management Corp believes that the current board’s nominees, including incumbents who have had up to nine years to address these issues, have not adequately remedied the governance failures. The company is encouraging stockholders to vote the GOLD Universal Proxy Card to elect PVG’s six nominees, who it believes can provide appropriate oversight and an experienced biotechnology CEO to restore investor confidence and secure the necessary capital to advance key clinical programs.

PVG Asset Management Corp’s President, Patrick S. Adams, stated, “We believe it is critical to help Anavex realize the full potential of its valuable assets and arrest the staggering shareholder value destruction that has taken place on the current board’s watch. The board’s nominees have had ample time to address these issues, but their recent half-measures are too little, too late.”

The press release concludes by encouraging all stockholders to carefully review PVG’s proxy materials and vote the GOLD Universal Proxy Card to elect PVG’s six nominees at the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.