Ex-GSK cancer researcher admits plot to steal trade secrets

Yu Xue, who had been a senior-level manager at the drugmaker's Pennsylvania research facility, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets related to cancer drugs in development

Sept. 4, 2018

A former GlaxoSmithKline cancer researcher pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets from the company. Prosecutors said that the plot included plans to set up companies to market them in China.

Yu Xue was a senior-level manager at GSK who worked at the company's research facility in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania for more than nine years. Xue entered a guilty plea in federal court to a single conspiracy count.

The federal government has now dropped dozens of pending counts against Xue.

Xue said she did not understand that the private emails she sent, which included her own patent, were considered trade secrets. Xue is facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Read the Reuters report

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