Vertex Sues Gilead, Former Vertex Employee For Trade Secret Violations, Contract Breach

A former employee of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. who left to work with Gilead Sciences took confidential information about Vertex’s hepatitis C drug with her, according to a complaint filed March 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Kritikos).

Vertex’s Incivek was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2011 for treating hepatitis C, and initially was considered a blockbuster drug. Gilead, based in Foster City, Calif., reportedly is planning to pursue FDA approval for its own hepatitis C treatment, sofosbuvir, within the next year.

In her new position at ...