AbbVie lawsuit says rival Adcentrx stole anti-cancer secrets

Dec 18 (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical company AbbVie (ABBV.N) has sued startup Adcentrx Therapeutics in California federal court, accusing it of stealing trade secrets to develop competing cancer-fighting antibodies by hiring away an AbbVie scientist.

AbbVie said in the lawsuit, filed on Friday, that the "very existence" of its antibody program was secret before Adcentrx and former AbbVie researcher Danny Lee allegedly took the company's confidential information and disclosed it in patent applications and investor materials.

Lee and representatives for AbbVie and Adcentrx did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

AbbVie's lawsuit said that the North Chicago-based company has been developing "antibody drug conjugates" since 2015 that deliver cancer-fighting "payloads" directly to cancer cells.

San Diego-based startup Adcentrx hired Lee, a key scientist on the program, in 2021, according to the complaint. AbbVie accused Lee of taking confidential information to Adcentrx that the startup allegedly used to apply for ADC-related patents.

AbbVie said that Adcentrx filed the applications four months after Lee joined and that the startup's competing antibodies are already in Phase I clinical trials, which the lawsuit called "unusually fast" developments that showed Adcentrx had misused its trade secrets.

AbbVie requested an unspecified amount of monetary damages and ownership of Adcentrx's patent applications.

AbbVie announced last month that it would acquire ADC maker ImmunoGen for more than $10 billion.

The case is AbbVie Inc v. Adcentrx Therapeutics Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-02290.