JHL Biotech, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and developer of biosimilars, has reached a settlement agreement with Roche’s Genentech to resolve Genentech’s civil claims related to the indictment of former Genentech employees sharing confidential information with JHL.

In October 2018, a federal grand jury indicted former Genentech employees Xanthe Lam, Allen Lam, John Chan, and James Quach for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Genentech. According to the indictment, the defendants were former employees of Genentech, three of which went on to become consultants for JHL Biotech. The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal Genentech’s trade secrets related to Genentech’s biopharmaceuticals, Pumozyme (dornase alfa), Rituxan (rituximab), Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab), including documents relating to the processes by which the company formulated drugs and managed raw materials.

Under the terms of the agreement with Genentech, JHL will immediately forgo further development and clinical trials of products named in the settlement, other than as required for patient safety and compliance with applicable regulations. As part of the agreement, JHL will also reimburse Genentech for its legal fees and the cost of its investigation, but will not otherwise pay any damages.

“After careful consideration, we determined the settlement provides the best path forward for the company to focus exclusively on delivering high-quality and affordable biosimilar medicines to patients in need,” said JHL’s Executive Chairman and CEO in a company statement. “It also removes the costs and uncertainty associated with protracted litigation However, this will have no impact on JHL’s ability to continue development of the remainder, and majority, of our biosimilar pipeline or on our ability to continue to expand our CDMO business.”

Source: JHL Biotech