New York Times Report Fresh Allegations On Cassava's Simufilam Alzheimer's Trials, Shares Fall

Cassava Sciences Inc SAVA shares are shedding over 20% after The New York Times detailed new allegations related to the studies of the company's experimental Alzheimer's therapy, simufilam.

Among the latest concerns highlighted in the NYT article include a report that on March 30, the scientific journal PLoS One retracted five papers authored by Dr. H.Y. Wang, a Cassava (SAVA) adviser. 

The decision followed a five-month investigation into "serious concerns about the integrity and reliability of the results," The Times reported citing a spokesman for the journal.

Related: Science Journal Finds No Evidence To Data Manipulation By Cassava Sciences' In 2005 Publication.

In December, in response to the allegations, The Journal of Neuroscience published "expressions of concern" regarding two brain studies authored by the company's chief collaborator, Hoau-Yan Wang. 

One was co-written by Lindsay H. Burns, the chief scientist at Cassava. The journal editors also noted errors in the images accompanying the latter study.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roger Nicoll, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, raised concerns that taxpayers' money was being used for the company's studies. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has provided Cassava with more than $20 million for its research.

According to Cassava, simufilam restores the normal shape and functioning of a protein called filamin A that becomes warped in the brain in Alzheimer's disease and thereby slows dementia and improves cognition.

But experts said they knew of no independent studies that supported this hypothesis or would explain the results.

Price Action: SAVA shares are down 23.4% at $19.39 during the market session on the last check Tuesday.

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