Biotech firms settle suit charging data theft by peer reviewer
ELISABETH M. KIRSCHNER · Chemical & Engineering News · 1996
Two biotechnology firms have agreed to settlement before trial of a lawsuit charging data pilfering from a journal manuscript by a peer reviewer. Cistron Biotechnology of Pine Brook, N.J., claimed that Immunex, based in Seattle, and two of its former officers misappropriated an interleukin-1 (IL-1) beta DNA sequence obtained by an Immunex employee while reviewing a paper submitted to Nature by Cistron-sponsored researchers. The case called into question the confidentiality of documents undergoing peer review. Cistron's lawyers argued that "the liability phase of the trial [would] become a trial of the peer review system itself." On Nov. 1, "without any concession or admission of liability," Immunex agreed to pay Cistron $21 million. Immunex also will assign "certain IL-1 beta patents" to Cistron. The jury trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 5. Cistron originally filed suit in 1993. Nine years earlier, Nature sent a manuscript by Cistron-sponsored researchers for review by ...