Pfizer says former employee stole trade secrets on megablockbuster COVID-19 vaccine

Pfizer and other drugmakers go to great lengths to protect their proprietary information. When it comes to the world's best-selling pharmaceutical product, the company's BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer's defense of trade secrets carries even more weight.

That's why the company is working to get a handle on information allegedly stolen by a "soon-to-be former employee." In a new lawsuit filed in California, published by Bloomberg, Pfizer says an employee, Chun Xaio Li, uploaded more than 12,000 files, including "confidential Pfizer documents," to a personal Google Drive account and to personal devices.