Penn's cancer research institute files lawsuit against former director

Penn’s cancer research institute is suing their former scientific director for $1 billion on charges of stealing intellectual property.

The Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute filed a $1 billion lawsuit on Dec. 13 against Craig Thompson, the company he co-founded — Agios Pharmaceuticals — and the company that has access to Agios’ drugs, Celgene Corporation.

Thompson, who left the Institute last Oct. 31, is being charged on grounds of intellectual property rights, identifying tangible research property and inventions, fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. The plaintiff estimates that reparations for their damages will exceed $1 billion.

In the complaint, the Institute refers to Thompson as “an unscrupulous doctor” who “cheat[ed] future generations of the intended benefits of the … Institute’s intellectual property.”

The nonprofit institute, which is one of the largest in the country, was founded as the Penn Cancer Center in 1973 and was renamed for the Abramson family in 2002.

In the center’s Institutional Agreement, it states that “all Intellectual Property … that is conceived, discovered, developed … in the course of Institute Research Programs whose budgets are funded by multiple sources … will be joint property of the Institute and the University.” The plaintiff now claims that Thompson breached this part of the contract by taking ownership of research that was conducted at the Institute.

When Thompson joined the Institute in 1999 as its scientific director, he managed the Cancer Cell Biology Program. According to the complaint, Thompson allegedly took the cancer cell metabolism research he conducted while at the Institute and brought it to a biotechnology company, Cancer Metabolism Therapeutics, Inc., now known as Agios Pharmaceuticals.

The Institute claims that Thompson concealed his involvement with the company while he was working at the Institute. In addition, Thompson is accused of hiding the fact that the company raised more than $261 million for its “innovative cancer metabolism research platform,” a phrase that the plaintiff says exactly described Thompson’s work at the Institute.

Thompson is also being accused of not informing the Institute that the company was selling all their drugs from this platform to Celgene.

The Institute said they were unaware of Thompson’s involvement with Agios until late last year. They also state that when confronted with the issue, Thompson assured them that his actions did not violate the Institute Agreement.

Susan Phillips, the Institute’s spokesperson, has declined to comment since the suit is still in litigation.

Thompson and his lawyer Allan Arffa have also declined to comment since Thompson has until early February to make an official response to the complaint.

Thompson’s only public statement is that “the allegations in this lawsuit are unfounded and without merit. It is unfortunate that the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute has chosen to go down this path.”

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