A scientist whose research has been at the centre of controversy over an Alzheimer’s drug candidate has been charged with fraud.
A grand jury has indicted Hoau-Yan Wang, a professor at the City College of New York, on charges of falsifying data to obtain grants of around $16m from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Wang’s studies underpinned research into a diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease and simufilam, a drug that is in advanced clinical trials. Simufilam’s manufacturer, Cassava Sciences, a Texas pharmaceutical company, has said the drug improves cognition in Alzheimer’s patients.
Promising treatments for Alzheimer’s disease always generate tremendous excitement, reports The New York Times, and Cassava’s stock soared after each round of reported results from its trials.
However, some scientists had publicly disparaged the drug, saying its mechanism of action and purported results were implausible. Some even accused the company and Wang, its scientific consultant, of manipulating results.
Several journals retracted or attached statements of concern to publications by Wang and a co-author at Cassava.
Remi Barbier, founder and chief executive of Cassava, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a statement posted on its website, the company said Wang’s work “was related to the early development phases of the company’s drug candidate and diagnostic test”.
A publicist for the company pointed to a September 2023 publication that he said provides “independent verification of the science”.
An investigation by the City University of New York, of which the college is a part, struggled for months to obtain access to Wang’s files, and the investigating committee eventually concluded that Wang had been “reckless” in his failure to keep or provide original data, an offence that “amounts to significant research misconduct”.
Wang is now accused of falsifying data in grant applications over nearly eight years – until April 2023, according to the Justice Department. Some of the grants funded his salary and laboratory research at the university.
He has been charged with multiple counts of fraud and false statements. If convicted, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 55 years.
Renate Myles, a spokeswoman for the NIH, said the agency “does not discuss grants compliance reviews on specific funded awards, recipient institutions or supported investigators”.
“However, NIH takes research misconduct very seriously – and promptly and carefully reviews all allegations of research misconduct received.”
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The red flags that led to a massive Alzheimer’s research scandal
Leading Alzheimer’s study under investigation over possible manipulation
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