BMS Sues To Limit Former Employee Working Elsewhere

Fearful about suffering “irreparable harm” from the loss of confidential information to its main competitor, Bristol-Myers Squibb has gotten a temporary restraining order preventing former company vice president David Berman from working in the field of immuno-oncology at AstraZeneca. The field is one of the hottest areas for drug development, as highlighted at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Berman had been with BMS for 10 years, most recently as leader of its immuno-oncology exploratory development team. He played a key role in BMS’s development of the now $1.3 billion-per-year cancer drug Yervoy and its recently approved drug Opdivo. In late May, because of a threat of litigation, Berman resigned, effective immediately, only six days after originally giving notice he was leaving for AstraZeneca. Days later, believing Berman was moving to a similar role at AstraZeneca, BMS filed suit in a Delaware court to stop him from working in oncology for 12 months at his new employer. BMS claims he violated “industry standard” noncompete agreements that he signed when accepting an incentive package.