Beam Therapeutics, a gene-editing company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has filed a lawsuit accusing a former scientist of stealing intellectual property to establish a competing Chinese biotech firm. The complaint, filed late last week, alleges that Zi Jun “Emma” Wang accessed Beam’s electronic laboratory notebooks during off-hours to obtain proprietary information. She is accused of using this information to cofound YolTech Therapeutics, a Shanghai-based company, which recently partnered with venture capital firms RA Capital and RTW to launch a new startup named Serapha Bio.

Beam claims Wang worked at the company from March 2021 to January 2022 and engaged in unusual access of company documents across several technical areas beyond her usual scope, often during nights and weekends. The lawsuit asserts that YolTech’s patented lipid molecules show strong structural resemblance to Beam’s leading lipid chemistry, implying unauthorized use of Beam’s technology.

YolTech and Serapha are both named as defendants in the suit, along with YolTech’s CEO, Yuxuan “Jensen” Wu. Wu, responding to the allegations, denied any wrongdoing and stated that YolTech developed its gene-editing technologies independently through its own research efforts. RA Capital did not comment on the matter, while RTW founder Roderick Wong redirected inquiries to Serapha, which has not issued a statement.

The dispute emerges amidst growing concerns over intellectual property security between American and Chinese biotech firms. Chinese drug companies have rapidly gained prominence as cost-effective and quick competitors, attracting significant investment from U.S. venture capital and pharmaceutical companies. However, American stakeholders have expressed unease about possible intellectual property infringements, though few court cases have materialized until now.

This lawsuit also highlights a notable change in Beam’s leadership tone. In April, Beam’s CEO John Evans praised Wang as a talented scientist and dismissed notions that YolTech’s success stemmed from intellectual theft, attributing their progress to hard work and research, rather than copying. He had criticized the tendency to assume Chinese firms merely replicate American innovations.

Beam’s legal action centers on the development of a one-time gene-editing treatment for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (AATD), a genetic condition caused by a single gene mutation that can lead to lung and liver disease. Beam has been advancing a base-editing approach to correct this mutation and is conducting early-stage clinical trials with promising initial results.

According to the complaint, Wang allegedly leveraged the knowledge gained at Beam to establish YolTech’s AATD program and subsequently to support Serapha’s development of similar therapies. Serapha, formed in June through a partnership between RA Capital and RTW, raised $138 million, later supplemented by $92 million through a merger with the struggling startup Boundless Bio.

Wang is not currently listed among YolTech’s public team members but is identified as an executive in various social media posts and conference materials. The case underscores the increasing complexity of protecting intellectual property amid the fast-growing and globally competitive gene-editing industry.