Swiss scientist convicted for GSK trade secrets theft
A scientist working in Switzerland has been convicted of conspiring with his sister and others to steal trade secrets from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for the benefit of their respective biopharmaceutical ventures.
On Monday, May 2, US District Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that a Philadelphia jury found the employee of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, guilty of conspiring to steal trade secrets.
He was arrested and charged alongside four others—including his sister who worked at GSK—who had previously pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
The brother and sister duo ”betrayed their employers” for their own personal benefit, the US Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania said.
While working in their respective positions, the pair created their own biopharmaceutical ventures, Abba Therapeutics and Renopharma.
Both companies intended to develop their own anti-cancer products using research stolen from each sibling’s respective companies.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested the sister and her fellow Renopharma associates and seized email accounts containing stolen GSK data as well as a bank account containing funds related to Renopharma in January 2016.
The former Friedrich Miescher employee was charged in 2018 and was extradited from Switzerland to the US in December 2019.
Williams said: “This defendant illegally stole trade secrets to benefit companies controlled by himself and his sister, one of which were financed by the Chinese government.
“The lifeblood of companies like GSK is its IP, and when that property is stolen and transferred to a foreign country, it threatens thousands of American jobs and disincentivises research and development. Such criminal behaviour must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Renopharma rebranding
According to the Attorney’s office, Renopharma attempted to rebrand GSK products under development and sell them for “billions of dollars”, the attorney’s office claimed.
Renopharma’s own internal projections showed that the company could be worth as much as $10 billion based upon the stolen GSK data.
Jacqueline Maguire, special agent at the FBI’s Philadelphia division said: “The FBI will continue to bring all our investigative resources to bear to hold accountable criminals like [these] who steal intellectual property to benefit themselves and the government of China.
“Our relationships with private sector partners like GSK are critical to disrupting such costly activity and bringing those responsible to justice.”
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox.
