Diagnostic and reagent firm Igen International (Gaithersburg, MD) has been hit with a shareholder's lawsuit claiming that too much of the company's money and resources have gone into private ventures run by Igen's CEO and his family in acts of nepotism, cronyism, and breach of fiduciary duty. The primary allegation is that Igen's corporate officials wasted over $15.1 million during a fruitless five-year collaboration to develop a new microarray system with Meso Scale Technologies (Dover, DE), a private firm run by Jacob Wohlstader, son of Igen chair and CEO Samuel Wohlstadter. Steve Push, Igen's director of investor relations, says the lawsuit “is without merit and the officers and directors will defend themselves vigorously.” While the collaboration has not yet resulted in any products, Push says that Meso Scale is still developing surface chemistry technology that may be useful. On April 20, an independent committee of Igen's board of directors will make a final decision about whether to continue the venture; none of the Wohlstader family members are on that committee.