A U.S. medical professor has been charged with fraud for allegedly submitting false data to secure millions of dollars in public funds for Alzheimer's disease research.
Federal prosecutors announced on Friday that Hoau-Yan Wang, 67, fabricated data in grant applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on behalf of himself and a publicly-listed pharmaceutical company based in Austin, Texas, for which he was a consultant.
Wang, a professor at the City University of New York’s (CUNY) medical school, received around $16 million from the NIH between 2017 and 2021, according to prosecutors.
Although prosecutors did not name the company, it matches the description of Cassava Sciences, which lists Wang as a consultant. Cassava Sciences has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Wang, CUNY, and Cassava Sciences did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An NIH spokesperson also declined to comment.
In 2021, two physicians unaffiliated with Cassava alleged that the research supporting its Alzheimer's drug, simufilam, was based on manipulated and misrepresented data.
A lawyer for Cassava told Reuters in 2022 that these allegations were "false and misleading" and stated that the company had complied with information requests from government agencies.
Cassava's website describes Wang as the co-lead scientist in the discovery and development of simufilam. Conference presentation slides available on Cassava's website also refer to Wang as a consultant.
Cassava describes simufilam as "an entirely new approach" to treating Alzheimer's disease, a common form of dementia. On May 10, the company announced that over 735 patients had participated in a Phase 3 clinical trial of the drug, a late-stage, large-scale test.
Cassava shares surged from $7 in January 2021 to over $135 in July 2021 on investor hopes that the company was nearing a breakthrough in Alzheimer's treatment. However, the shares plunged after its research results were questioned. As of Friday afternoon, shares were down more than 40% at $11.
Wang faces decades in prison if convicted on all four counts of fraud and false statements. His sentence would ultimately be determined by a judge. A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, indicted him on Thursday, according to court records.
