Cassava Sciences and two former executives, CEO Remi Barbier and Chief Science Officer Lindsay Burns, have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for misleading investors about the results of clinical trials for their Alzheimer's drug, simufilam. The company and the executives have agreed to pay fines totaling more than $40 million to settle the charges. The SEC alleges that Cassava and its executives made misleading claims in 2020 about the results of a Phase 2 clinical trial, manipulating research data to falsely suggest that simufilam showed cognitive improvement in patients with Alzheimer's disease, when in reality the drug failed to demonstrate measurable cognitive benefits. Additionally, Dr. Wang of the City University of New York (CUNY), a Cassava-affiliated scientist and the drug's inventor, was also charged for manipulating clinical trial results. Barbier and Burns have resigned from the company. The SEC also noted that the placebo outperformed both doses of simufilam in the trial.