Cassava Sciences Files Lawsuit Against Perpetrators of “Short and Distort” Campaign

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cassava Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SAVA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, today announced that it has filed a lawsuit in federal court against certain individuals who executed a “short and distort” campaign against the Company. The 150+ page complaint alleges that the Defendants’ disinformation campaign caused a precipitous decline in Cassava Sciences’ stock price, a multi-billion dollar decline in its market capitalization, and delayed the Company’s work in developing a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

The lawsuit alleges: “Defendants placed personal enrichment over science, over the health of patients, and over the truth. Defendants saw an opportunity to manipulate a stock price and financially benefit from their ‘short positions’ by defaming a company developing a drug for people with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that afflicts millions of people. Defendants seized that opportunity and, while enriching themselves, caused irreparable harm to the company, its attempts to find a treatment for the disease, and patients waiting for that treatment. Defendants’ conduct is beyond shameful. It is unlawful.”

The complaint identifies over 1,000 false and defamatory statements made by the Defendants in submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as “reports” and presentations that Defendants published online or on social media. According to the complaint, “Defendants saturated the market, investors, federal agencies, testing sites, and others with their false and defamatory message about Cassava. Defendants did not have any real or valid concerns with Cassava, its foundational science, or its tests. Defendants engaged in their saturation campaign to profit based on a decline in Cassava’s stock price.”

Cassava Sciences has retained J. Erik Connolly, Managing Chair of the Litigation Group at Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP to represent it in this matter. Mr. Connolly has litigated some of the largest defamation claims in the country, including a $6 billion dollar claim against ABC and multi-billion-dollar claims brought on behalf of a voting technology company against Fox News and others based on their statements following the 2020 U.S. election.

“There are serious consequences when people use disinformation as a way to deflate a company’s stock price and make money by shorting the stock,” said Mr. Connolly. “These actions not only financially hurt the Company and its investors, but they also cast a permanent cloud over research being done to try to find a treatment for a terrible disease. That is just wrong.”

“We are still investigating whether additional individuals or entities should be brought into this case or have separate claims brought against them,” according to Mr. Connolly.



The filing of this lawsuit marks another step in Cassava Sciences’ vigorous defense of itself and its stakeholders. It follows Cassava Sciences’ press releases denying the disinformation being disseminated by Defendants, including: No Evidence of Data Manipulation in Science Publication on Simufilam (August 18, 2022), FDA Denies Citizen Petition Filed on Behalf of Short Selling Clients (February 10, 2022), Science Journal Finds No Evidence to Support Claims of Data Manipulation in 2005 Publication (December 21, 2021), Review by Journal of Neuroscience Shows No Evidence of Data Manipulation in Technical Paper Foundational to Cassava Sciences’ Lead Drug Candidate (November 4, 2021), Cassava Sciences Releases a Public Statement Regarding Recent Allegations (September 3, 2021), and Cassava Sciences Responds to Allegations (August 25, 2021).

About Simufilam

Simufilam (sim-uh-FILL-am) is Cassava Sciences’ proprietary, small molecule (oral) drug that restores the normal shape and function of altered filamin A (FLNA) protein in the brain. Cassava Sciences owns worldwide development and commercial rights to its research programs in Alzheimer’s disease, and related technologies, without royalty obligations to any third party.

About Cassava Sciences, Inc.

Cassava Sciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Austin, Texas. Our mission is to detect and treat neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Our novel science is based on stabilizing—but not removing—a critical protein in the brain. The Company’s product candidates have not been approved by any regulatory authority and their safety, efficacy or other desirable attributes have not been established.

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Eric Schoen, Chief Financial Officer, (512) 501-2450, or

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