Moderna filed a lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech claiming the biopharmaceutical companies infringed on Moderna’s patents related to mRNA technology in development of their COVID-19 vaccine.
The lawsuit, to be filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and Regional Court of Düsseldorf in Germany, alleges Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine Comirnaty infringes on Moderna’s patent filed between 2010 and 2016.
“We believe that Pfizer and BioNTech unlawfully copied Moderna’s inventions, and they have continued to use them without permission,” said Moderna chief legal officer Shannon Thyme Klinger in the company’s press release.
A Pfizer spokesperson told TechCrunch they are stunned by the allegations because "the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was based on BioNTech's proprietary mRNA technology and developed by both BioNTech and Pfizer."
In their statement, BioNTech stated that they intended to "vigorously [fight] against all charges of patent infringement."
According to the company's statement, "BioNTech also cherishes and respects legal and enforceable intellectual property rights of others and remains confident in its intellectual property." "It is unfortunate but not uncommon for other businesses to claim that a successful product may violate their intellectual property rights, and this is especially true in this case given the groundbreaking achievements of a vaccination like COMIRNATY®."
Two aspects that Moderna claims are "essential to the success of the mRNA vaccines" were copied by the other businesses, according to Moderna. Two of the traits include encoding the spike protein in a lipid molecule and one involves a chemical modification that helps prevent unfavourable immune responses to mRNA.
The company is currently requesting money damages but not an order to stop the sale of Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine.
In the press release, Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said, "This foundational platform, which we began building in 2010, along with our patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, enabled us to produce a safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time after the pandemic struck." In order to produce medications that could treat and prevent autoimmune and cardiovascular disorders, unusual kinds of cancer, as well as infectious diseases like HIV and the flu, Moderna is utilising its mRNA technology platform.
In 2021, Moderna revealed that work on mRNA vaccines for the Nipah virus, HIV, and seasonal flu had started.
The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech has been given out over 360 million times in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Close to 230 million doses of Moderna have been given.
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