What happened
Shares of Cassava Sciences (SAVA 2.81%) were down more than 14% as of 11:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday after the clinical-stage biotech company announced so-so results for an Alzheimer's disease therapy. The stock is down more than 28% so far this year.
So what
Cassava said in a release on Wednesday that its therapy, Simufilam, slowed cognitive decline by 38% compared to a placebo after six months of phase 3 clinical trial testing on patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. That was a lower response rate than some other Alzheimer's disease therapies, including Donanemab from Eli Lilly. Simufilam is designed to fix misshapen proteins at the cellular level that can lead to Alzheimer's.
Cassava's stock, once more than $100 a share in 2021, has struggled after a short-seller's report calling into question the integrity of Cassava's science led to shareholder lawsuits and several government inquiries, which are ongoing. The company has responded with its own lawsuit against the short-sellers.
Now what
Cassava has a lot riding on Simufilam, so the less-than-impressive results in the trial are as concerning as governmental inquiries. The company's only other pipeline program is SavaDx, a blood-based diagnostic tool to detect Alzheimer's. The company reported that in the first quarter, it had a net loss of $24.3 million, or $0.58 in earnings per share (EPS), compared to a net loss of $17.5 million, or $0.44 in EPS in the same period last year. The company also said, as of March 31, it had $187.5 million, enough to fund operations into 2025 at the company's current burn rate.
