By Mike Scarcella

Sept 9 (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie has sued cancer treatment maker BeiGene in Chicago federal court, accusing it of stealing trade secrets to develop a competing cancer-fighting therapy after hiring away a former longtime senior AbbVie scientist.

AbbVie’s lawsuit, filed on Friday, alleged it had invested millions of dollars and “years of research” into developing a compound that might treat certain types of blood and bone marrow cancers that are associated with the growth of “B cells.”

The lawsuit focuses on the companies’ development of a cancer therapy drug called a “BTK degrader,” which targets and destroys a molecule present in B cell growth. Such cells produce antibodies that fight infection.

North Chicago-based AbbVie alleged that BeiGene, which has administrative offices in Basel, Beijing and Cambridge, Massachusetts, “enticed and encouraged” former AbbVie scientist Huaqing Liu to use his former employer’s trade secrets “to advance and accelerate” BeiGene’s BTK degrader program. Liu was named a defendant.

BeiGene in a statement on Monday denied AbbVie’s allegations and said the company will “vigorously defend our intellectual property rights against this lawsuit.”

AbbVie’s lawsuit was “introduced to hamper” the development of BeiGene’s competing BTK degrader, called BGB-16673, BeiGene’s statement said.

BeiGene said it filed patent applications for BGB-16673 before AbbVie made a patent filing for its BTK degrader. The company also said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this year granted “fast track” designation to its drug, which is being used in a study to treat types of leukemia and lymphoma.

AbbVie and attorneys for the company at law firm Jones Day did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Liu started work at BeiGene in September 2019 after retiring from AbbVie, the lawsuit said. He had worked on AbbVie’s BTK degrader program for at least a year, according to the complaint.

“BeiGene encouraged and induced Liu to disclose AbbVie’s BTK degrader trade secret designs and information knowing he had an obligation to AbbVie to maintain their secrecy,” the lawsuit said.

AbbVie said it was seeking unspecified monetary damages and a court order to “recover and protect its trade secret and confidential information.”

The case is AbbVie v BeiGene Ltd et al, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:24-cv-08167.

For AbbVie: Jason Winchester, Andrea Jeffries and Randall Kay of Jones Day

For BeiGene: No appearance yet

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