Moderna has announced plans to file a patent infringement lawsuit against rival vaccine developer Pfizer and its partner BioNTech over the company’s mRNA covid vaccine.
The Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company said it will file the lawsuit on Friday, August 26, in US District Court and a similar suit in Germany. He wants compensation for the use of the technology, not for the Pfizer shot to go off the market.
Between 2010 and 2016, Mordiana pioneered the mRNA technology for treatments and vaccines, and Pfizer copied the technology without permission to make the Covid vaccine. As the pandemic continues, the company pledged in October 2020 not to enforce its Covid-related patents, and later said it would never enforce them in 92 low- and middle-income countries.
However, since the fight against the corona virus has “entered a new phase” and vaccine supply is not an obstacle to access in many parts of the world, Moderia is seeking compensation for revising his promise.
“We are filing these lawsuits to protect the mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in, and patented in the decades before the Covid-19 pandemic,” Moderna CEO Stefan Bansel said in a prepared statement. .
Related: Pfizer seeks license to boost Omicron-targeted Covid vaccine
A Pfizer spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the company had not yet been served a copy of the lawsuit, according to the Associated Press.
Mordana In 2010, scientists began developing a chemical modification of the mRNA to prevent it from triggering an unwanted immune response when it enters the body. Human trials validated the technology in 2015 and 2016.
Both developers have brought Covid vaccines to federal regulators that used mRNA technology. The Pfizer shot first received emergency use approval in December 2020, with Moderna’s approval coming a week later.
The US has administered more than 360 million of Pfizer’s COVID vaccines by the end of August. That’s compared to more than 229 million of Moderna’s vaccines and about 18.9 million of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines, according to CDC data.
More than 6.9 million Pfizer shots have been given in Michigan, compared to 4.3 million Moderna shots.
To find a vaccine near you, contact your primary care physician or use Michigan’s online vaccine finder here.
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