Philly hospital sued over genetic information

A Philadelphia hospital could be forced to shutter its new genetics program in response to a suit claiming the hospital stole key research information. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Center for Applied Genomics, which opened five months ago, is working to collect genetic data from 100,000 children. It plans to screen the data to see if it can detect genetic markers predicting children's risk of developing obesity, diabetes, ADHD, asthma and several other conditions. The Children's project is being run by scientists who left Iceland-based biotech DeCODE Genetics. The firm, which has been working a similar project, contends that the hospital's project director and three affiliated scientists have stolen DeCODE's intellectual property. The suit also accuses the scientists of violating non-compete clauses in their DeCODE contract.

For more background on the suit:
- read this article in The Philadelphia Inquirer

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