US-based FibroGen Inc. has filed a lawsuit against two former employees, Liu Dong and Deng Shaojiang, accusing them of trade secret theft. The case, filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California, also names two pharmaceutical firms as co-defendants: US-based Kind Pharmaceuticals LLC and China-based Hangzhou Andao Pharmaceutical Ltd. The lawsuit alleges that the former employees “misused FibroGen’s intellectual property, including proprietary FibroGen compounds.”
Kind Pharma Profile
Founded in 2014, Kind Pharma operates out of sites in San Francisco, California, and Zhejiang Province, China. The firm’s lead pipeline candidate is AND017, a small-molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) under development for anemia in chronic kidney disease. This mechanism and indication are identical to those of FibroGen’s global first-in-class HIF-PH inhibitor Evrenzo (roxadustat). Notably, Kind Pharma secured Phase II clinical trial approval for AND017 from the US FDA in January 2021.
Regulatory and Market Context
FibroGen’s Evrenzo is approved in China and the EU but faced rejection at the market approval stage by the US FDA in August 2021. The lawsuit highlights the ongoing competition and legal challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the development of innovative treatments for chronic conditions.-Fineline Info & Tech
