Moderna sued Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Friday, alleging that the two companies copied Moderna’s technology in developing its Covid-19 vaccine, Cominrati.
In a news release, Moderna announced that Pfizer/BioNTech. Between 2010 and 2016, it infringed patents covering mRNA technology, which Modenara used to develop its own Covid-19 vaccine, Spikevax.
“We are filing these lawsuits to protect the mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in developing and patented in the decades before the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Stefan Bansel, CEO of Moderna. In the year This foundational platform, which we began building in 2010, along with our patent work on the coronavirus in 2015 and 2016, allowed us to develop a safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine after the outbreak. As we work to combat the health challenges moving forward, Moderna is leveraging its mRNA technology platform to develop drugs to help treat and prevent infectious diseases such as influenza and HIV, as well as autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and rare cancers.
Pfizer/BioNTech said Friday it has not yet fully reviewed the complaint.
“However, we are surprised by the litigation that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology and was developed by both BioNTech and Pfizer,” the partnership said in a statement. “We are confident in our intellectual property in support of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and will vigorously defend the lawsuit.”
The patent infringement lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and in the Regional Court of Dusseldorf, Germany, according to a news release. Moderna is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and BioNTech is based in Germany.
Both vaccines use messenger RNA or mRNA, a new way to develop and deliver vaccines by using viruses or virus fragments as opposed to the traditional process. Chicken eggs – and then clean them before the next steps to create a shot.
mRNA vaccines are made by injecting the genetic code for the spike protein that coats the surface of the coronavirus. That code, mRNA, is embedded in a small ball of fat, and it instructs the body’s cells to make some harmless copies of their splicing, which will help the immune system recognize the true virus.
Both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccines are developed using mRNA – short for messenger RNA – technology. Here’s how they work.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use approval for the Covid-19 vaccine in December 2020 to Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderia shortly thereafter.
In the year In October 2020, Moderia pledged to implement its Covid-19 patents, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. But in March, Modena said it expected companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech to respect its intellectual property rights when vaccine availability was not a problem in many parts of the world.
Moderna said it would consider a “commercially reasonable license” if Pfizer/BioNTech requested one for other markets, but the companies failed to do so.
Mordiana said he is not seeking damages for any activity before March 8.
The Pfizer/BioNTech partnership is being sued by other companies that claim the vaccine infringes their patents, CNBC reports. Pfizer/BioNTech responded that it will vigorously defend its patents.
Modaria has been sued for patent infringement in the United States, CNBC reported. It is in dispute with the US National Institutes of Health over the rights to the mRNA technology.
