Cassava Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SAVA) announced today that Hoau-Yan Wang, a former paid science advisor to the company, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly defrauding the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Wang, who was a tenured medical professor at a public university’s medical school, is accused of engaging in illegal behavior to secure approximately $16 million in grants from the NIH between 2017 and 2021. These grants were intended for research related to the early development of Cassava Sciences’ drug candidate and diagnostic test.
It is important to note that Dr. Wang’s work under these grants did not involve the Company’s Phase 3 clinical trials of simufilam, which is Cassava Sciences’ lead drug candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Despite his former affiliation with the company, Dr. Wang and his former university have no involvement in the current research and development efforts for simufilam.
For more information on this matter, please contact Eric Schoen, Chief Financial Officer of Cassava Sciences, at (512) 501-2450 or via email at ESchoen@CassavaSciences.com.