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Biotech / Medical : Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis C who wrote (4412)	5/29/1998 10:10:00 PM
From: Peter Singleton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6136

Thanks, Dennis. Just read it awhile ago ... Izzy sent me the link. Do you have any knowledge of and an opinion of this? btw, posting the full text below. Peter Agouron pair stole research, jury finds Ex-researcher at UCSD wins case By Rex Dalton ÿ UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER May 29, 1998 SAN DIEGO -- In a rarely proven instance of academic espionage, a jury found yesterday that Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. of La Jolla and a pair of its scientists stole potentially valuable research from a former UCSD researcher. The San Diego Superior Court jury determined that Agouron scientists Michele A. McTigue and her husband, Jay F. Davies II, used misappropriated research from a federally funded lab at the University of California San Diego to try to make a blockbuster drug. The drug effort failed, however. Huguette Pelletier, now at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, should receive $200,000 plus all her attorney fees for the misappropriation of her academic research in 1993, the jury found. She had alleged that the misappropriation prevented her from publishing her research, hurting her pursuit of a faculty position at a good university. "I feel relieved -- very happy," Pelletier said. "It is a victory. Now I can go back and do what I do best -- science." "The verdict is ridiculous," said Donna Nichols, a spokeswoman for Agouron and its scientists. "This was a very difficult case scientifically. We believe the jury made the wrong decision." This was believed to be the first time a commercial firm was found to have misappropriated biotechnology secrets from a UCSD lab. University officials said they could not recall a similar case at other UC campuses. Further, legal disputes between university scientists and a company are rare, because few such scientists are willing to pursue litigation that can have a high financial and professional cost. The verdict came after a week of deliberations following a two-week trial -- which capped four years of legal fighting over whether McTigue used her access to the UCSD lab to take scientific data that she gave to her husband, a senior scientist at Agouron. Daniel B. MacLeod, Pelletier's San Diego attorney, portrayed McTigue as a scientific "mole that acted as a ferret," repeatedly taking trade secrets from the UCSD lab and giving them to her husband and Agouron. "We had a very sophisticated jury, who paid close attention to the evidence," MacLeod said. "I am extremely gratified by the verdict." Court testimony indicated that Agouron used key aspects of the misappropriated scientific "recipe" for a series of experiments, part of a project that cost the firm $1.75 million. The research involved growing a three-dimensional crystal of a protein, called polymerase beta, with an eye toward developing a designer drug. Agouron seeks to develop drugs based on their chemical structure. The firm had hoped to use the protein -- an enzyme that cells use to repair DNA -- to develop a drug to minimize the side-effects of anti-cancer drugs; but the project was unsuccessful and eventually dropped. The verdict came after a bruising battle between the junior academic scientist and the heavyweight biotechnology firm, which its attorney called a great San Diego success story. Agouron produces an AIDS drug, which is one of the first homegrown pharmaceutical products from the region's biotech industry. Pelletier's legal fight didn't involve Agouron's AIDS drug; but Davies did publish articles on the AIDS medication. During the trial, Agouron's attorney described Pelletier as a manipulative scientist who used an alleged personal relationship with the head of the UCSD lab to undermine McTigue's efforts. Either in court testimony or records, Pelletier, 32, and Joseph Kraut, 72, a UCSD professor emeritus of biochemistry who then headed the lab, denied any such relationship. Pelletier, McTigue, 33, and Davies, 42, all received their doctorates while conducting research in the lab of Kraut, who was a founder of Agouron before severing ties with the firm. Initially, Pelletier sought to get UCSD to join her in the lawsuit, but after the university declined, she pursued the case on her own. A UCSD spokeswoman had no comment yesterday on the verdict. Noting that "Agouron's international scientific stature has been built on our scientists' technical excellence and professional integrity," Nichols said the firm is "prepared to pursue post-trial options to clear our hard-earned reputation." Agouron could ask the judge to overturn the verdict, and if unsuccessful, appeal it.