Scientist Sues Roswell Park Cancer Center in Buffalo
Monday, 02/01/2012
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/us-canada-news/Scientist-Sues-Roswell-Park-Cancer-Center-in-Buffalo/articleshow/11217536.cms
Khushi L. Matta, an award-winning former scientist at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., has filed a patent lawsuit against the institute and Roswell Park noted scientists Ravinda K. Pandey and Thomas J. Dougherty.
According to a Dec. 4 article in the Buffalo News, Matta is seeking acknowledgement for what he claims are his contributions to patents that Pandey and Dougherty have been awarded, and for a portion of grants Pandey and Dougherty received related to those patents.
Matta alleges that after working for 40 years at Roswell Park, in the process bringing in millions of dollars of research grants, he was told his job was being eliminated and he was later stripped of all access to laboratories at the institute.
Michel B. Sexton, Roswell Park's general counsel and chief operations officer, told the newspaper that in his opinion Matta had retired.
"My understanding is the research he had done was over," he told the Buffalo News. "He didn't have any more grants. His position was going to be eliminated."
Matta, however, alleges that patents and grants Pandey and Dougherty obtained are based partly on work he (Matta) did in his chemistry lab and on his ideas.
The work focused on carbohydrate chains and their ability to bind to cancer cells, making it easier to identify tumors. The research could lead to more efficient cancer drugs.
Roswell Park and the two scientists have denied all the charges. Pandey and Dougherty said in court testimony that while they discussed scientific theories while working with Matta, patents and grants they submitted were based solely on their own work.
Sexton pointed out that Matta has filed complaints for five years. "His complaints have been refuted by two different committees here. The people he names (Pandey and Dougherty) are top-line scientists. They wouldn't leave him off if they thought he deserved to be on it."
