(AP) — A Delaware pharmaceutical company says a high-ranking scientist stole company secrets and shared them with a Silicon Valley startup.

The News-Journal reports that the company, Incyte, is accusing Jordan Fridman, a scientist who worked at the company's headquarters for more than a decade, of feeding company secrets about a cancer-fighting drug to a prospective employer, which used the information to secure a $1.25 billion acquisition by competitor Bristol-Myers Squibb. The suit says Fridman left Incyte for Flexus Biosciences a year before Bristol-Myers Squibb acquired the company.

A lawsuit seeks damages from Flexus's two founders and the company itself for an amount that could surpass $2 billion.