Scientist behind late-stage Alzheimer’s drug indicted for research fraud

A neuroscientist whose work helped pave the way for an Alzheimer’s drug candidate was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on fraud charges.

The accusation, announced Friday by the Department of Justicebrings additional scrutiny to the work of Hoau-Yan Wanghad several studies withdrew and faced an investigation by the City University of New York, his employer, which was later interrupted.

The charges in the indictment relate to the alleged fabrication of images and investigative data that Wang may have used to secure federal grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Wang, professor of medicine at the City University of New York, collaborated with Cassava Sciences, a pharmaceutical company based in Austin, Texas, in investigating an Alzheimer’s drug candidate called simufilam. He received about $16 million in grants for early drug development in collaboration with Cassava, according to the indictment.

The indictment charges Wang with one count of fraud against the United States, two counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements. It accuses Wang of manipulating or adding images from Western blots, a laboratory method that researchers use to identify proteins, in order to bolster evidence and help secure grants.

The indictment also suggests that Wang may have lied to scientific journals to support his research, which contributed to the early development of simufilam.

The drug is currently in late-stage clinical trials and about 735 patients have participated through May 2024, according to a press release from Cassava last month.

Wang did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In 2023, he told the Wall Street Journal that a CUNY investigation made “no conclusive findings about data manipulation, consistent with what I have been saying for two years.”

Cassava said in a statement on Friday that Wang did not participate in his most recent trial.

In a press release, the company said: “Wang’s work under these grants related to the early phases of development of the company’s drug candidate and diagnostic test and how they were expected to work.”

Cassava added that Wang “had no involvement in the Company’s Phase 3 clinical trials of simufilam.”

A Cassava spokesperson also pointed to a press release issued by the company in September 2023, which said academic researchers outside of CUNY had found evidence that the drug may affect signaling pathways suspected of involvement in Alzheimer’s disease.

CUNY learned of the allegation on Friday, a spokesperson said in an email, adding, “The University has and will continue to cooperate to the fullest extent with the federal government’s investigation until the matter is resolved.”

The indictment does not specifically name the university, the drug or the company, listing them as “University 1”, “Drug A” and “Company 1”, respectively.

Still, Cassava shares fell nearly 35% on Friday, in a rapid drop that triggered multiple trading halts.

Overall, the manipulation of investigative footage and the handling of allegations of investigative misconduct is a growing concern in the scientific community.

The issue gained particular attention last summer when Stanford’s then-president, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, stepped down after allegations surfaced that images had been manipulated in his lab. Tessier-Lavigne said he never submitted papers that he did not consider accurate and noted that a panel that investigated his work did not find that he was aware of misconduct in his laboratory.

Then, in January, an amateur scientific detective made allegations of manipulating research images. by leading scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which led to later retractions. Dana-Farber said he took decisive action to correct the scientific record.

Wang’s work has faced questions for some time, as Science magazine reported. The magazine obtained a report from CUNY that found evidence suggesting research misconduct. O university halted its investigation after Science published the report.

Several journal articles that Wang authored were retractedaccording to the Retraction Watch website.

This article was originally published in NBCNews. with