(Bloomberg) -- Cassava Sciences Inc. shares plunged after its chief executive officer resigned, the latest turmoil at the biotech company being investigated by US watchdogs.
CEO Remi Barbier will be succeeded by Cassava board member Richard Barry while the company looks for a permanent chief, it said Wednesday. The shares fell as much as 31% at the New York market open.
The moves mark the latest upheaval at Austin-based Cassava, which is developing an experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment, simufilam. Last month, former company adviser Hoau-Yan Wang was indicted for allegedly fabricating and falsifying scientific data in grant applications to the US National Institutes of Health. Cassava has said Wang has no involvement in the company’s late-stage clinical trials of simufilam.
Earlier this month, Cassava said it has been engaging with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with investigations into the company and two senior employees.
Lindsay Burns, the company’s senior vice president of neuroscience, is also stepping down. Burns has published research with Wang, the company said in a filing earlier this month. Burns and Barbier are married, according to a company spokesperson.
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