GlaxoSmithKline trade secret theft case strikes down Swiss scientist, its 5th target, in conviction

A federal investigation into a criminal ring that stole trade secrets from GlaxoSmithKline for a Chinese biotech has claimed its fifth target.

Gongda Xue, a Chiense citizen and former scientist at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) in Switzerland, has been convicted on charges that he conspired to steal trade secrets from GSK to benefit his own company.

Xue’s conviction followed guilty pleas by four other people in the same case, including his sister, Yu Xue, a former top chemist at GSK who has been identified as the ringleader of the scheme.