Es Errant Gene Therapeutics Sues Bluebird Bio for Fraud
By John T. Aquino
• Errant Gene Therapeutics sues competitor Bluebird Bio for fraud, inducing breach of contract
• The complaint expands on EGT's federal suit against Sloan Kettering
Sept. 29 (BNA) -- Errant Gene Therapeutics expanded its litigation to get the rights to its research back from a cancer research institute by suing its competitor, Bluebird Bio, Sept. 27 in state court (Errant Gene Therapeutics, Inc. v. Bluebird Bio, Inc.,Ill. Cir. Ct., No. 2016-L-009541, filed 9/27/16).
EGT, founded by millionaire Patrick Girondi to find a cure for his son, had sued the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research (SKI) in federal court in March 2015 for breach of contract and fraud. EGT also sought the return of research that it developed under a license with SKI for a treatment for thalassemia, a fatal inherited blood disease, and sickle cell disorder.
According to the latest complaint filed in Illinois Circuit Court for Cook County, in the course of discovery for the federal lawsuit, SKI produced documents related to communications and dealings with Bluebird Bio.
EGT's action against Bluebird, which expands the scope of its federal court litigation beyond contract litigation against a nonprofit, asserts counts of tortious interference with a business relationship and fraud.
The lawsuit was filed a week after Bluebird, which has a market valuation exceeding $3 billion, announced that its thalassemia therapy could get faster approval in Europe. The European Medicines Agency granted access to its Priority Medicines scheme, which is designed to speed up regulatory approval, for Bluebird's LentiGlobin drug product in the treatment of patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, the company said.
Alleged Ties to Bluebird
The Illinois state complaint covers much of the same ground as the federal court complaint. It alleges that, in 2005, SKI licensed the rights to an experimental therapy one of its scientists had been working on to EGT for use in blood disorders known as hemoglobinopathies, including thalassemia and sickle cell disorders. The therapy employed a recombinant virus, known as a viral vector.
In November 2010, Craig B. Thompson became president of SKI. EGT alleged in court documents that Thompson had ties to Third Rock Ventures, a venture capital firm that funded Bluebird Bio. According to EGT, SKI then alleged that EGT had defaulted on the 2005 licensing agreement.
On June 17, 2011, after months of negotiation, the parties signed an agreement that provided for a sale, assignment and transfer of EGT's rights, title and interest in the vector in return for which SKI would file an investigational new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration and treat patients with the vector.
In 2015, EGT filed its federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against SKI alleging breach.
Inducement of Breach Alleged
Sources close to the litigation told Bloomberg BNA that EGT sued Bluebird in Illinois state court for jurisdictional reasons.
Six pages of EGT's state-law complaint were redacted because they were designated as “attorneys' eyes only” in the federal complaint. The extant pages allege that Bluebird tortiously interfered with EGT's agreement with SKI by inducing a breach of that contract and that it conspired to defraud EGT.
EGT asked the court for judgment on the counts, compensatory damages, punitive damages and costs.
Bluebird didn't respond to Bloomberg BNA's e-mail request for comment.
The complaint was filed by Niro Law Ltd., Chicago.
To contact the reporter on this story: John T. Aquino in
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