Moderna announced on Friday that it is suing rivals Pfizer and BioNTech, accusing them of infringing on its patents. The claims come against the pharmaceutical companies in the development of their Covid-19 vaccine administered to hundreds of millions around the world.
“Moderna believes that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty infringes patents Moderna filed between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna’s foundational mRNA technology,” the US-based biotech firm said in a statement.
“Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to make Comirnaty,” said Moderna.
The 2 accused have stated that they have not yet fully reviewed the allegations but expressed surprise.
“The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology,” a statement said. “We will vigorously defend against the allegations of the lawsuit.”
The mRNA technology used in Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines is different from traditional vaccines. Traditional vaccines depend on injecting weakened or dead forms of a virus to allow the immune system to recognize it and build antibodies.
The mRNA Covid-19 vaccines instead deliver instructions to cells to build a harmless piece of the spike protein found on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19.
The virus has killed at least 6.48 million people worldwide since 2020 and made nearly 600 million ill, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
Moderna in October 2020 pledged not to enforce its Covid-19-related patents while the pandemic continued, but in less than two years, their stance has changed as the fight shifted gears.
“Moderna expected companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech to respect its intellectual property rights and would consider a commercially reasonable license should they request one for other markets,” it said.
These types of lawsuits are not unheard of in the pharmaceutical industry, where patents can be worth billions of dollars and can take years to resolve.
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