When Vanderbilt University physician and neuroscientist Matthew Schrag first grew suspicious of work underlying a major theory of Alzheimer’s disease (see main story, p. 358), he was following a different trail. In August 2021, he provided analysis for a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requesting that it pause two phase 3 clinical trials of Cassava Sciences’s Alzheimer’s drug Simufilam. The petition claimed some science behind the drug might be fraudulent, and the more than 1800 planned trial participants might see no benefits.
