Moderna SUES Pfizer and BioNTech
Moderna is suing its two major competitors in the market for COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer and BioNTech, over allegations that the two firms used its patented technology in the development of their mRNA jabs.
Both Moderna’s shot and the joint Pfizer-BioNTech jab are mRNA shots – a little-used technology before its introduction to the mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moderna alleges that the two competing firms copied technology it had patented between 2010 and 2016.
Moderna had previously chosen not to enforce its patent during the rollout of the Covid vaccines in an effort to avoid stifling global jab rates. It then changed its policy in March, now only promising not to enforce its patents in ways that will harm low-and-middle income nations.
Pfizer and BioNTech have been the major winners in the rollout of the shots. Pfizer alone is projected to earn around $32 billion in sales of its shot around the world – with the figure likely to increase with the soon-to-be approval of its Omicron-specific shot. Moderna follows just behind, projecting $19 billion in global Covid vaccine sales this year.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm has faced patent infringement allegations of its own. In February, two Vancouver, Canada-based biotech firms brought a lawsuit against Moderna, alleging that it had hijacked its nanoparticle technology in the development of the shot.
‘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,’ Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a statement.
‘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.’
Pfizer told DailyMail.com that it had not yet been served the lawsuit and could not comment on the allegations.
BioNTech did not immediately respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
In October 2020, two months before both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shots hit the market, the former said it would not enforce patents on its mRNA technology.
