Dive Brief:
- The charges against former Eli Lilly scientists, Guoqing Cao and Shuyu Li, who were accused of stealing confidential drug-related data and wire fraud, have been dropped.
- When Cao and Li, both U.S. citizens, were charged, the value of the confidential data was estimated to be worth $65 million.
- There's been a lot of back and forth between the defendants' lawyers and Eli Lilly's lawyers. According to Scott Newman, the lawyer for Li, an Eli Lilly lawyer "recanted" the allegations. A Lilly spokesperson says that that statement is "inaccurate and misleading."
Dive Insight:
After a great deal of legal strategizing, an Eli Lilly spokesperson summed up the current situation: "The decision to bring, amend and dismiss these criminal charges rests solely with the Department of Justice," she said in a statement.
Perhaps more information about why the charges were dropped will be forthcoming, but for now, one can only speculate.