AveXis brothers booted over data fudge

15 August 2019

Two senior executives at Novartis' (NOVN: VX) AveXis unit are being shown the door as the firm faces accusations from the US regulator it was aware of data manipulation before it filed for gene therapy Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi).

In a statement, Novartis said that chief scientific officer Brian Kaspar and senior R&D vice president Allan Kaspar have been on garden leave since May. A number of other senior executives are also being pushed out, the firm said.

AveXis informed the US FDA about data irregularities in June, months after the regulator approved Zolgensma to treat children with the most severe form of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a leading genetic cause of infant mortality.

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