Cancer Researcher Sued Again

UPenn has filed suit against the president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for failing to share intellectual property he developed while at the university.

Written byBob Grant

| 1 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

1:00

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City has been slapped with a lawsuit by the University of Pennsylvania for allegedly failing to share intellectual property with the school. This doubles the legal trouble for former UPenn cancer researcher Craig Thompson, who was sued to the tune of $1 billion by the university-affiliated Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute for similar reasons last December.

The lawsuits allege that Thompson's improperly exploited research into cancer cell metabolism by helping to launch a pharmaceutical company, Agios, which filed for patents on the discoveries.

UPenn's beef with Thompson is that he "breached his fiduciary duty to the university" by "failing to disclose to the university research and discoveries," according to ScienceInsider. In ...

Interested in reading more?

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member?

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

Bob Grant
Go to The Scientist's LinkedIn Page
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
View Full Profile