Nutritionist Sued Over Supplement Culled from Dolphin Research

A California company whose co-founder discovered a new essential fatty acid while studying dolphin longevity with the US Navy sued a former customer alleging he worked with a Chinese-backed supplier to develop a patent-infringing rival daily supplement.

Epitracker Inc. and Seraphina Therapeutics Inc., life sciences companies that share a San Diego address, allege that Steven R. Gundry, a heart-surgeon-turned-nutritionist, bought Seraphina’s Fatty15 product and with the supplier conceived of a competitor that infringes US Patent No. 11,116,740, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

The plaintiffs—both co-founded by ...