Cassava Sciences (SAVA) was crushed earlier this year.
In fact, after a firm called into question the quality and integrity of SAVA’s Alzheimer’s test results, and asked the US FDA to halt the SAVA trials until there’s further investigation, the stock plummeted from $146 to $40.
But, as we noted at the time, the pullback was overkill.
B. Riley analysts even said SAVA was a buy, given the “numerous inconsistencies” in the petition. Plus, they reminded investors that SAVA had “highly favorable” engagement with the US FDA, including an agreement for pivotal Phase III studies.
Even SAVA CEO Remi Barbier, as quoted by Bloomberg, said “I’ve never heard of a Citizen’s Petition for a pre-Phase 3 drug, especially on a drug that appears to be as safe as simufilam. We see the filing of a citizen’s petition as a technique intended to add to the pile of fear and doubt generated by their initial document.”
Despite all of the negativity, Cassava pushed forward with Phase III trials.
In October, the company announced it initiated a Phase 3 efficacy study of simufilam, the Company’s investigational drug for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, with a second Phase 3 efficacy study of simufilam in Alzheimer’s disease is expected to begin by year end.
Then, just today, SAVA finally exploded $23 higher.
All after a review by the Journal of Neuroscience showed no evidence of data manipulation with the company’s drug candidate.
“The Journal of Neuroscience follows COPE [Committee on Publication Ethics] guidelines and takes any claims of misconduct very seriously. In response to allegations of data manipulation in JNeurosci 2012;32:9773-9784 the Journal requested raw data, including images of original, uncropped Western blots. The Journal determined that there was one duplicated panel in Figure 8 and a Corrigendum was requested and will be printed. No evidence of data manipulation was found for Western blot data,” as noted in a SAVA press release.
All of that chaos—and there was never anything wrong.
While short sellers made a killing on the short side, perhaps longs can make some good money, as the company shows progress.