Pfizer Says Stolen Trade Secrets Founded New Eli Lilly Partner

Pfizer Inc. says two ex-employees secured a massive investment from Eli Lilly and Co. into their new company founded on stolen trade secrets, in a lawsuit filed in Connecticut federal court Wednesday.

Xiayang Qiu and Ming Zhong left Pfizer and founded Regor Therapeutics in 2018, and within months it was touting a diabetes-and-obesity treatment “strikingly similar” to one being developed at Pfizer, according to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut complaint.

Computer forensic analysis confirmed the two had misappropriated confidential information after the company was tipped off by the May 2020 publication of a 2019 Regor patent ...