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Brian and Allan Kaspar, brothers at the scientific helm of Novartis’s AveXis division, left the company in May, and sources tell both STAT and CNBC it’s because they were involved in an episode in which falsified data were submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration as part of an application for getting a gene therapy approved.
Brain Kaspar was the chief scientific officer and Allan Kaspar was the head of research during the time when the company was working through the process of getting Zolgensma, a gene therapy for children with spinal muscular atrophy, approved.
The FDA only learned of the compromised preclinical data in June—a month after the agency gave the drug the green light, and a month after the Kaspar brothers left the company.
“The news will likely only amplify questions as to why Novartis delayed notifying the FDA of concerns,” STAT writes.
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