Novartis announced in August that the company was in the process of “exiting a small number of AveXis scientists” involved in data manipulation in the filings for Zolgensma, their spinal muscular atrophy therapy. On August 14 they announced that AveXis co-founder and chief scientific officer, Brian Kaspar, and his brother were leaving the company. They have been replaced by Page Bouchard, a 27-year biopharmaceutical industry veteran and recent global head of preclinical safety for Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research. This Scrip story provides details on the issues surrounding Zolgensma and important background on the players involved.