Court Sides With Rival In AbbVie’s Trade Secrets Suit

By Adam Lidgett (October 6, 2021, 7:20 PM EDT) — Icelandic drugmaker Alvotech hf. scored a win Wednesday when an Illinois federal judge tossed a lawsuit claiming the company had hired an ex-AbbVie worker and used proprietary information he stole from his former employer to copy aspects of AbbVie’s arthritis drug Humira.

U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber dismissed AbbVie’s complaint alleging its former Singapore employee Rongzan Ho, who was not a party in the suit, emailed himself the proprietary information in his last days at AbbVie at the direction of Alvotech, which had recruited him for his new job.

The judge said the court didn’t have personal jurisdiction over the…