The laboratory that tested samples for Cassava Sciences‘ (SAVA) Alzheimer’s study distanced itself from the biotech company on Friday, and SAVA stock plunged for a third straight day.
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Cassava tapped Quanterix‘s (QTRX) Accelerator laboratory to test blinded samples provided by Cassava for an Alzheimer’s treatment study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference last month. Earlier this week, shareholder firm Labaton Sucharow called into question Cassava’s test results, alleging the biotech company manipulated the data.
And Quanterix wants nothing to do with the allegations.
“Quanterix or its employees did not interpret the test results or prepare the data charts presented by Cassava at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in July 2021 or otherwise,” the lab said in a written statement on Friday.
In response, SAVA stock toppled 14.9% near in afternoon trading on today’s stock market. That came on top of double-digit drops on Wednesday and Thursday.
SAVA Stock Continues Its Dive
Cassava is working on an Alzheimer’s drug that aims to stabilize filamin A, a scaffolding protein. At a nine-month interim analysis, Cassava said the treatment called simufilam improved cognition in Alzheimer’s patients.
To put that in perspective, even Biogen‘s (BIIB) Aduhelm only slows cognitive decline. Aduhelm is the only Alzheimer’s treatment that aims to correct an underlying pathology of the disease, rather than just treating the symptoms.
But shareholder firm Labaton Sucharow doubted Cassava’s results in a report Wednesday. The firm questioned the validity of Cassava’s biomarker data, an analysis method called Western Blot and the company’s analyses of human brain tissue. SAVA stock tumbled 31.4% that day.
On Wednesday, Cassava said it stood behind its science and the company provided a point-by-point opposition to Labaton Sucharow’s allegations. Still, SAVA stock fell again on Thursday, diving another 12.4% in high volume, according to MarketSmith.com.
Meanwhile, Quanterix stock toppled 9.2% on Thursday, but rose 9.4% midday Friday.
Cassava Responds To Lab Statement
Cassava doesn’t disagree with Quanterix’s assessment of the job. In its own written statement released Friday, the company says Cassava was charged with measuring the levels of p-tau — a key protein in Alzheimer’s research — in samples collected from study subjects.
It’s standard practice is to separate “the people who generate the data from the people who analyze the data,” Cassava Chief Executive Remi Barbier said in a written statement. To suggest anything else “is a distortion of the facts,” he added.
Quanterix’s sampling was conducted entirely by its employees, Cassava said. The lab workers didn’t know which samples came from placebo recipients or those who received simufilam. After conducting its sample testing, Quanterix sent the results to Cassava for treatment effect analysis.
“We both had a job to do, we both did our respective jobs and we co-authorized the results in an abstract at a major scientific conference,” Barbier said in an email to Investor’s Business Daily.
Cassava believes Labaton Sucharow’s allegations are “false and misleading.” It claims Labaton Sucharow holds a short position in SAVA stock. Representatives of the shareholder firm didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Investor’s Business Daily.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
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