Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech for COVID-19 vaccine patent infringement

The renowned biotechnology company Moderna said on Friday (August 26) that it is suing rival vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech. The American pharmaceutical company alleged that Pfizer and BioNTech infringed "patents central to (its) mRNA technology platform". 

In a statement, Moderna said that it is suing the rival vaccine makers for patent infringement in the development of the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the United States. 

It alleged that they copied technology that Moderna had developed years before the pandemic. 

The biotech firm said in a statement: "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." 

"This groundbreaking technology was critical to the development of Moderna's own mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna's permission, to make Comirnaty," Moderna added.

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Moderna said it believes Pfizer and BioNTech "copied two key features of Moderna's patented technologies which are critical to the success of mRNA vaccines".

In the statement, it mentioned that when COVID-19 emerged, "neither Pfizer nor BioNTech had Moderna's level of experience in developing mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases".

Moderna also said that they "knowingly" followed Moderna's lead in developing their own vaccine. 

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Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said, "We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. This foundational platform, which we began building in 2010, along with our patented work on coronavirus in 2015 and 2016, enabled us to produce a safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time after the pandemic struck." 

"As we work to combat health challenges moving forward, Moderna is using our mRNA technology platform to develop medicines that could treat and prevent infectious diseases like influenza and HIV, as well as autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and rare forms of cancer," Bancel added. 

Meanwhile, Pfizer has said that it has not received the lawsuit and declined to speak further. Germany's BioNTech has also not commented yet. 

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