A scientist at the center of controversy over research into a potential Alzheimer's drug has been charged with fraud.
A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted City University of New York professor Hoau-Yan Wang on charges of falsifying data to obtain grants totaling about $16 million from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Wang's work has laid the foundation for research into a diagnostic test for Alzheimer's and a drug called simufilam that is undergoing clinical trials. Its maker, Texas-based pharmaceutical company Cassava Sciences, says the drug improves cognition in Alzheimer's patients.
Alzheimer's affects roughly six million Americans, a number expected to double by 2050, and any potential treatment is generating great excitement. Cassava's stock price has soared every time clinical trial results were released.
However, some scientists have publicly denounced the drug, calling its mechanism of action and purported results implausible. Some have gone further and accused the company and its scientific advisor, Dr. Wang, of manipulating the results. Several academic journals have retracted papers by Dr. Wang and his Cassava co-authors or attached statements of concern to them.
Cassava shares plummeted to their lowest since October 2020 after the indictment was announced on Friday.
Cassava founder and CEO Remi Barbier did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a statement on its website, the company said Dr Wang's work was “related to the early development of our drug candidates and diagnostic tests.”
“Dr Wang and his former faculty at the Public University of Medicine were not involved in the company's Phase 3 clinical trials of simufilam,” the statement said.
A company spokesman said the paper, due to be published in September 2023, would provide “an independent validation of the science.”
The investigation by the City University of New York, which the university participated in, struggled for months to gain access to Dr Wang's files. Ultimately, members of the investigation committee concluded that Dr Wang was “reckless” in failing to preserve or provide the original data, a violation that “amounts to serious research misconduct.”
Neither the university nor Dr. Wang immediately responded to requests for comment on the indictment.
According to the Department of Justice, Dr Wang is now accused of falsifying data in grant applications over a period of approximately eight years up to April 2023. Some of the grant money was used to pay Dr Wang's salary and research expenses at the university.
Federal prosecutors have charged Dr. Wang with multiple counts of fraud and false statements, which carry a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison if convicted.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington Office is investigating the case. The indictment was handed down in Maryland, where the NIH is based.
“NIH does not discuss grant compliance reviews regarding specific grants, recipient institutions or supported investigators,” NIH spokeswoman Renate Miles said in an emailed statement.
“However, NIH takes research misconduct very seriously,” she said. “NIH promptly and carefully reviews every allegation of research misconduct it receives.”