A pharmacy professor from the University of Missouri-Kansas City stole a student's research and secretly sold it to a pharmaceutical company for $1.5 million, a lawsuit filed Feb. 26 charges.
The lawsuit, brought by University of Missouri, claims Ashim Mitra, PhD, defrauded the university out of millions of dollars, according to The Kansas City Star. The suit alleges Dr. Mitra improperly reaped $1.5 million from the sale and may improperly earn up to $10 million more in royalties.
Dr. Mitra stole a more effective way to deliver drugs to the eye from one of his graduate students, the suit alleges. Money from the student's research belongs to the university because the student, Kishore Cholkar, PhD, was employed as a graduate research assistant when he made the discovery, the university claims.
Dr. Mitra announced his resignation in January without acknowledging any wrongdoing. His last day will be March 31.
Read the full report here.