A pharmacist filed a religious-discrimination lawsuit against Horizon Therapeutics PLC,  an Illinois-based biotech company focused on researching and developing medicines for rare disease, after he was denied a religious exemption from the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The plaintiff, New York resident William Fridrich, began working at Horizon on July 8, 2019, as a regional medical director, the complaint said. His responsibilities required him to interact with physicians and other health care professionals and, on rare occasions, with patients, the complaint said. He sometimes worked in Connecticut.