Scientist Pleads Guilty To Stealing Monoclonal Antibody Research For Chinese Pharma Company

ByLeif Le Mahieu

A scientist from Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets for a Chinese pharmaceutical company after forming a fraudulent cancer research and drug company to store stolen information.

According to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Lucy Xi, 44, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a large multinational pharmaceutical company, and giving the secrets to Renopharma, a Chinese pharmaceutical company.

“This defendant illegally stole trade secrets to benefit her husband’s company, which was financed by the Chinese government,” U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams said. “The lifeblood of companies like GSK is its intellectual property.”

She added that this kind of theft not only damaged the strategic benefit of American research, but that it also harmed American workers.

“[When] that property is stolen and transferred to a foreign country, it threatens thousands of American jobs and jeopardizes the strategic benefits brought about through research and development. Such criminal behavior must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Williams noted.