Benzinga | Jun 21, 2021 11:45AM EDT

Cassava Sciences Stock Gains After Outlining Clinical Development Progress For Lead Alzheimer's Candidate

* Cassava Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:SAVA) has announced a mid-year update highlighting clinical development progress and providing guidance on upcoming data releases for simufilam and SavaDx.

* Simufilam is Cassava's lead drug candidate to treat Alzheimer's disease; SavaDx is an investigational diagnostic candidate to detect Alzheimer's with a simple blood test.

* In March 2020, Cassava Sciences initiated a long-term, open-label study to evaluate simufilam in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

* The study is funded by a research grant award from the National Institutes of Health.

* The Company plans to announce the results of an interim analysis on safety and cognition for the first 50 subjects to complete nine months of open-label drug treatment.

* These cognition data will be presented at the 2021 Alzheimer's Association International Conference.

* Cassava Sciences will also present biomarker data from the open-label study.

* In May 2021, Cassava Sciences initiated a Cognition Maintenance Study (CMS). Patients who previously completed at least one year of open-label treatment with simufilam qualify to enroll in the CMS.

* Cassava Sciences plans to initiate a Phase 3 program of simufilam in Alzheimer's disease in the second half of 2021.

* The first Phase 3 study is designed to evaluate symptomatic improvement, and the second trial will determine disease-modifying effects of simufilam in Alzheimer's disease.

* Price Action: SAVA shares are up 4.60% at $83.31 during the market trading session on the last check Monday.