Cassava Sciences, the makers of experimental Alzheimer's drug simufilam, is experiencing a major shake-up. Its CEO and lead neuroscientist have resigned.
Cassava Sciences’ experimental Alzheimer’s drug simufilam is currently in clinical trials. Meanwhile, the company is experiencing a major shake-up. Its CEO and lead neuroscientist have resigned, weeks after news that a Cassava consultant was federally indicted and two new federal probes of unnamed Cassava employees were underway.
The company announced the resignations of Cassava Sciences CEO Remi Barbier and Cassava senior vice president of neuroscience Lindsay Burns today in a press release. Barbier has also left the company’s board of directors.
“As a public company, and one dedicated to developing a drug for Alzheimer’s disease, we hold ourselves to the highest standards,” said Richard (Rick) Barry, who has been newly appointed as Executive Chairman of the Board and as the Company’s principal executive officer. “While our priority remains the development of a potentially effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the board has a steadfast commitment to doing so with transparency, accountability, and highest ethical business practices.”
Barry has been a director of Cassava since June 2021.
“Our sole mission at this time is to determine whether simufilam is an effective, revolutionary treatment for Alzheimer’s disease,” Barry added, promising a “single-minded commitment to scientific rigor and honest transparency with patients, government agencies and investors.”
He noted that all study results will be posted timely and accurately to clinicaltrials.gov.
His appointment — and the executives’ departure — follows a series of alarming announcements for trial participants and investors. On June 27th, a tenured professor at the City University of New York who was a scientific consultant in simufilam’s development, Hoau-Yan Wang, was indicted on federal fraud charges related to the trial data.
Wang “made false, fraudulent, and misleading statements about the mechanism by which drug A [simufilam] was designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, and the improvement of certain indicators associated with advanced Alzheimer’s disease neurodegeneration in patients treated with drug A,” according to the indictment.
“The ongoing Phase 3 trials are being run according to FDA and industry standards that ensure the integrity of all reported results,” Barry’s statement reads.
Former Cassava Advisor Indicted for Fraud, 2 Senior Employees Under Investigation