Aligos Co-Founders File Complaint Against Johnson & Johnson Alleging Fraud

Aligos Therapeutics Inc ALGS has filed a response to the complaint of and counterclaims against Janssen Biopharma.
In November 2014, Johnson & Johnson JNJ acquired Alios BioPharma Inc, a privately held infectious disease biotech, for approximately $1.75 billion in cash.
Lawrence Blatt and Leonid Beigelman co-founded Alios.
Following J&J's 2014 acquisition, Blatt and Beigelman become employees at Janssen. But Blatt and Beigelman left Janssen, starting Aligos Therapeutics Inc ALGS in 2018.
The response to Janssen's complaint specifically identifies the publicly available information, previous work experience, publications, and patents by Aligos co-founders towards the first discovery of oligonucleotides targeting hepatitis B virus, and the licenses Aligos obtained were utilized as the basis of Aligos' HBV portfolio.
The response further outlines and documents that Aligos employees performed all work after leaving Janssen Biopharma.
In its complaint filed in March, Janssen alleges that "Blatt and Beigelman stole work related to at least four R&D programs, reflecting years of effort and funding by Janssen. Then, Blatt and Beigelman used what they stole to create Aligos' pipeline of products."
In addition to responding to Janssen's complaint, Aligos logged its complaint, alleging that Janssen made false promises to Blatt and Beigelman when they agreed to work there following the Alios acquisition.
Janssen objected to those claims, suggesting that they should be dismissed.
Price Action: ALGS shares closed at $1.06 on Wednesday.

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