FibroGen Says Ex-Employees Stole Anemia-Drug Work for Rival Firm

FibroGen Inc. alleges that two former employees stole its scientists’ work on compounds used to treat anemia related to chronic kidney disease to give their own rival company an “unlawful head start,” a federal lawsuit in California says.

According to a redacted complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the “misuse of FibroGen’s intellectual property, including proprietary FibroGen compounds, is inextricably tied to” Dong Liu and Shaojiang Deng, scientists who worked at the company for years and are co-defendants in the case with Kind Pharmaceuticals LLC and Hangzhou Andao Pharmaceutical Ltd.

Liu founded ...