Biocon Stole Licensed Cancer Biotech to Fuel Spinoff, Suit Says

Biocon Ltd. built Bicara Therapeutics Inc.'s $1.2-billion valuation based on cancer-immunotherapy technology it stole from the exclusive licensee of a family of Johns Hopkins University patents, a federal lawsuit says.

Biotech firm Y-Trap Inc. alleges Biocon used confidential information received under their disclosure deal to file its own patent applications and launched Bicara “for the express purpose of laundering the stolen technology through a new vehicle,” according to a complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

South San Francisco-based Y-Trap, founded in 2015 by two JHU researchers, licensed the cancer-treatment technologies they invented—including at ...