Chinese Citizen Convicted of Conspiracy to Steal GSK Trade Secrets

A federal jury in Pennsylvania has convicted a Swiss-based scientist and Chinese citizen, Gongda Xue, of conspiring to steal trade secrets from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

The defendant, who worked at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, a Novartis affiliate, was found guilty of colluding with his sister, Yu Xue, who had worked at GSK.

Gongda created Abba Therapeutics in Switzerland and Yu and her associates formed the Chinese government-backed company Renopharma.

Both siblings were accused of sharing employer trade secrets with one another in order to benefit the companies they founded. Yu and another former GSK employee Lucy Xi previously pleaded guilty of sharing trade secrets with Renopharma. The judge said Gongda will be sentenced Aug. 15.