By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Cassava Sciences stock (NASDAQ:SAVA) soared 16% Tuesday after the company said another science journal had found no evidence to support charges it had manipulated data in a 2005 publication.
The stock has more than halved since the allegations were first made in August.
The clearance from Neuroscience journal follows similar findings in November by Journal of Neuroscience, a different publication.
The controversy began when an online post alleged that the company had manipulated research results of simufilam, its experimental drug for Alzheimer’s.
Two physicians petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to halt Cassava’s clinical study of simufilam. Disputing the validity of Cassava’s clinical biomarker data and the integrity of Western Blot Analysis, the petition’s authors said they doubted the company’s research, claiming it included images that appeared manipulated.
Cassava had then said that the biomarker data of Alzheimer’s patients was generated by Quanterix (NASDAQ:QTRX), an independent company, and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.
The company said Western Blot Analysis is foundational to the biotechnology industry and is a standard lab technique used worldwide to detect a protein of interest.
Cassava’s proposed drug for Alzheimer’s aims to restore a protein, filamin A, that its scientists say is misshaped in the blood of patients suffering from the fatal illness.