02:39 PM EDT, 07/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Cassava Sciences ( SAVA ) shares were up nearly 24% in recent Monday trading after its recently appointed chairman told shareholders the biotech was expecting the first phase 3 trial read out of simufilam by December.

In a letter to investors, Richard Barry, who was appointed executive chairman last week, said results from the first phase 3 trial would compare results between simufilam and placebo in 804 patients and are expected by year-end.

A second phase 3 trial of over 1,100 patients is expected to conclude by June 2025, according to the letter.

Barry said the ongoing trials of Cassava's Alzheimer's drug candidate had cost "hundreds of millions of dollars." The letter comes as the scientific community reportedly raises questions about simufilam's prior clinical trial data and mode of action.

Hoau-Yan Wang, a neuroscientist who published research studies in support of Cassava's drug candidate, was charged with fraud by a federal grand jury in June.

The City University of New York, where Wang worked, previously alleged that Cassava's former chief executive Remi Barbier was to blame for some of the errors in the research as part of an investigation that was leaked to the media. Cassava had called CUNY's investigation inaccurate.

Barbier stepped down from his position Wednesday, along with the company's chief scientific officer Lindsay Burns.

Price: 12.46, Change: +2.38, Percent Change: +23.61