Coronavirus-Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement | Photo credits: Kris Tripplaar/Sipa
by Daniel Trotta
Aug 26 (Reuters) – Moderna is suing Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement in the development of the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the United States, claiming they copied technology Moderna had developed well before the pandemic.
The suit, which seeks unspecified financial damages, was filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts and the Düsseldorf Regional Court in Germany, Moderna said in a statement Friday.
“We are filing this lawsuit to protect the innovative mRNA (technology) that we developed, invested billions of dollars in, and patented in the decade before the COVID pandemic. -19,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, in the statement.
Moderna claims that Pfizer/BioNTech copied, without permission, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology that Moderna patented between 2010 and 2016, long before COVID-19 emerged in 2019.
Moderna added that Pfizer/BioNTech appropriated two types of intellectual property.
One involves an mRNA structure that Moderna claims it began developing in 2010.
The second alleged breach relates to the coding of a complete spike protein that Moderna teams, according to the company, developed when creating a vaccine against the coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). (Report Daniel Trotta; French version Valentine Baldassari, edited by Kate Entringer)