Pfizer employee allegedly stole thousands of documents “potentially” related to vaccines – RT en français | Local News

The American laboratory has filed a lawsuit against one of its employees accused of stealing 12,000 confidential documents. Many of the files could be linked to vaccines developed by Pfizer, in particular against Covid-19.

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer filed a lawsuit on November 23 against one of its employees who allegedly transferred a large number of documents to their devices and private accounts, some containing “trade secrets and confidential information,” including possibly information concerning Pfizer’s vaccine against Covid-19 developed in cooperation with the German laboratory BioNTech.

“Thousands of documents potentially linked to many Pfizer vaccines”

In the complaint document filed on November 23, the pharmaceutical company sets out the situation in these terms: “What Pfizer can say with certainty is that its future ex-employee Chun Xiao Li [celle-ci a annoncé qu’elle quitterait ses fonctions le 24 novembre] downloaded more than 12,000 files – including many confidential Pfizer documents – from his Pfizer-supplied laptop to a personal Google Drive account and to other personal devices. ”

Having completed his 15-year career at Pfizer as Associate Director of Statistics, Chun Xiao Li had access to a number of sensitive information. “Due to the sheer number of documents Ms. Li has misappropriated, Pfizer has yet to fully understand the extent of the trade secrets and confidential information in its possession,” the group said, adding that Chun Xiao Li now had “thousands of documents potentially related to many Pfizer vaccines.”

“Although Ms. Li initially gave the impression of cooperating, it turns out that she rather deceived Pfizer about what she took, how she took it, when and why she took it, and where these files (and possibly others) can be found today, ”says the complaint.

Employee reportedly left Pfizer for competing lab

The 25-page document also states that Chun Xiao Li “has decided to leave Pfizer for a competitor. [que l’entreprise] thinks it is Xencor, Inc. ”

“By leaving the company, [elle] tried to cover his tracks on several occasions. She went so far as to provide Pfizer’s security team with a decoy laptop, leading Pfizer to believe it was the one she used to download the 12,000 files from her Google Drive account, ”says Pfizer.

The company therefore argued that it would be “unfair to allow Ms. Li and anyone with whom she might work together to benefit from Pfizer’s successes and experience, whether at Xencor or elsewhere.” , by exploiting the numerous confidential documents of Pfizer which it took without permission and which it refuses to return ”.

As Reuters reports, a Nov. 23 order by Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo temporarily banned Chun Xiao Li from using Pfizer’s trade secrets and said the firm’s lawyers could examine accounts and devices. where she could have stored them.

For now, Chun Xiao Li could not be reached by the news agency. Xencor is not a defendant in the lawsuit and declined to comment. Pfizer meanwhile said its competitors had tried to recruit its employees “relentlessly, especially during the year 2021”.