Jury Finds Avilar and RA Capital Stole Yale Protein Degradation Tech

The legal dispute centers on technology developed by Yale professor Dr. David Spiegel, designed to identify and eliminate disease-causing extracellular proteins. After presenting the platform at a 2018 university pitch event, Yale entered into a 2019 confidentiality agreement with RA Capital to explore a potential investment. Negotiations collapsed in August 2019, but plaintiffs alleged that RA Capital subsequently utilized the proprietary data to launch Avilar Therapeutics, a venture built on the misappropriated research.

Biohaven, which holds the license to commercialize the MODA technology, joined Yale in the 2023 lawsuit. The jury awarded $2 million to Yale for RA Capital’s breach of the confidentiality contract, alongside $1 million each to Yale and Biohaven for the trade secret misappropriation. Biohaven CEO Dr. Vlad Coric characterized the verdict as a vindication of their claims regarding the improper use of confidential information to build a competing program. Yale officials emphasized that the integrity of academic-industry partnerships relies on strict adherence to legal and ethical obligations, noting that Dr. Spiegel's research represents years of rigorous scientific inquiry.