Former Paid Science Advisor Indicted for Defrauding U.S. National Institutes of Health in Drug Development Grants

Today, it was announced that Hoau-Yan Wang, a former paid science advisor to Cassava Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SAVA), 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.

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, which is Cassava Sciences’ lead drug candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. 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.

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.