After GSK, Lilly and Genentech, MD Anderson ousts scientists over data theft

By PharmaCompass

2019-04-25

Impressions: 102 Article

Last year in November, we had reported on how four former Genentech employees in the US were indicted by a federal grand jury for the alleged theft of company trade secrets in order to help a company in Taiwan — JHL Biotech, Inc — develop drugs similar to those made by the Roche subsidiary.

This wasn’t the first such instance. Back in 2013, two former Eli Lilly scientists were accused of stealing US$ 55 million in trade secrets on behalf of a Chinese drug company. And in October 2018, a cancer researcher in the US, named Yu Xue, was accused of stealing GSK’s trade secrets for a string of companies called Renopharma Inc.

Last week, three scientists were ousted from the MD Anderson Cancer Center due to similar concerns. The cancer center moved to fire the scientists after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) contacted at least 55 medical research institutions to report the names of researchers suspected of sharing federally-funded research with China or other foreign governments.

The NIH told MD Anderson officials it had concerns about a total of five researchers. Two of them resigned ahead of termination proceedings, and the third is challenging the dismissal, the NIH said. A fourth was reprimanded but not terminated. One other MD Anderson researcher is still under investigation, according to the NIH.

Last year, MD Anderson had received emails from the NIH describing conflicts of interest or unreported foreign income by five faculty members. The NIH, which has been assisted by the FBI, gave the cancer center 30 days to respond.

The cancer center’s action comes amid growing concern in the US over China and other foreign governments exploiting US-funded research for their own benefit.

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