Couple charged with stealing trade secrets from Ohio hospital
A couple who worked at Ohio-based research institute Nationwide Children’s Hospital have been charged with stealing trade secrets and then using the information to market products through their Chinese company.
San Diego-based Yu Zhou and his wife Li Chen worked at the hospital for ten years, until 2017 and 2018 respectively, according to the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
Federal prosecutors said that Zhou and Chen stole scientific trade secrets related to exosomes and exosome isolation.
Exosomes play a key role in the research, identification and treatment of a range of medical conditions, including necrotising enterocolitis (a condition found in premature babies), liver fibrosis and liver cancer.
US attorney Benjamin Glassman for the Southern District of Ohio, said: “Nationwide Children’s Hospital devoted years of work and its own money to researching exosomes in order to promote honorable medical advances.”
The husband and wife allegedly founded a company in China in 2015 (without the hospital’s knowledge) and, while they continued their employment with the hospital, the couple marketed products and services related to exosome isolation through their Chinese company.
“Zhou and Chen allegedly used the hospital’s Research Institute resources and equipment to conduct the exosome research necessary for their unauthorized, outside work,” said a release from the DoJ.
The defendants were arrested in July and the case was unsealed yesterday, September 16, at the defendants’ arraignments in federal court.
FBI Cincinnati special agent in charge Todd Wickerham, said: “The theft of trade secrets is a growing threat that severely impacts our economy and our national security. The FBI is committed to investigating these cases and working with all of our partners to protect IP.”
An indictment contains allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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