Breach Threatens Biotech Company's Reputation, Stock Value
2005.03.03 | By Svarthol
In recent days, word has spread throughout the Caldari corporate community that Zainou Biotech, one of the State's leading biotechnology corporations, has suffered a massive security breach.
According to rumours, two leading scientists from within the biotech giant's inner circle of research and development have gone away without leave, reportedly in possession of a highly classified experimental drug taken from the corporation's main laboratories in Isseras. The drug, known only as "Insorum," is reportedly a mild euphoric whose short duration and lack of immediately apparent side effects make it ideal for black market sale in mass quantities. The pair, pharmacologist Ullia Hnolku and his wife, graviton physicist Eckarine Mitumi-Hnolku, have neither been seen nor heard from in three days.
According to Chief Executive Panel sources, the CEP Business Bureau intends to launch a full-scale investigation into the matter within the next few days. No official comment has been made by either the CEP or Zainou Biotech.
Meanwhile, the rumour mill has taken its toll. Zainou Biotech stock within Caldari markets has in the past two days plummeted by 22 points (the largest drop by any Caldari corporation this year so far), and at least three big-name clients are known to have submitted void applications to the Caldari Business Tribunal with intent to rift their long-standing agreements with the biotech company.
"If they can't be trusted to hold on to their employees, how can we trust them to hold to their agreements?" stated an anonymous source from one of the voiding parties.
Zainou, a subsidiary of the Ishukone Corporation, has been at the leading edge of the State's biotech and nanomechanical industries for years, and turns over billions of ISK annually. How much this incident will affect them remains to be seen.