The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, alleges they copied technology Moderna had developed years before the pandemic. Moderna CEO Stephane 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 in the decade leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Mr. Bancel said the company continues to use the technology to develop treatments for influenza and HIV, as well as autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and rare cancers. “We believe that Pfizer and BioNTech illegally copied Moderna’s inventions and continued to use them without permission,” added Moderna Chief Legal Officer Shannon Thyme Klinger. Moderna Inc and the partnership of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech were two of the first teams to develop a vaccine for COVID. Just a decade old, Moderna pioneered messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology, which works by teaching human cells how to produce a protein that will trigger an immune response. The technology helped speed up the approval process for the slots — which usually takes years to complete — and allowed the vaccine to be developed so quickly. Germany-based BioNTech also worked in this area when it partnered with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for the partnership’s vaccine first in December 2020 — giving the green light to Moderna’s jab a week later. Moderna alleges that Pfizer/BioNTech, without permission, copied the mRNA technology it had patented between 2010 and 2016, well before the emergence of COVID-19 in 2019. Early in the pandemic, Moderna said it would not enforce its COVID patents to help others develop their own vaccines, but in March of this year it told companies including Pfizer and BioNTech that it expected them to to respect its intellectual property rights. In revenue, Moderna’s vaccine brought in $10.4bn (£8.8bn) this year, while Pfizer’s vaccine has raised around $22bn (£18.6bn). Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:27 UK approves new double jab on COVID Pfizer/BioNTech ‘appropriated two types of intellectual property’ In a statement issued Friday, Moderna said Pfizer/BioNTech appropriated two types of intellectual property, one involving an mRNA structure and the other related to the encoding of a full-length spike protein. “Pfizer and BioNTech put four different vaccine candidates into clinical trials, which included options that would have escaped Moderna’s innovative path,” the statement said. Read more: First real study sheds new light on when people with COVID are infectiousMan tests positive for smallpox, COVID and HIV after holiday in Spain “Pfizer and BioNTech, however, ultimately decided to move forward with a vaccine that has the exact same chemical mRNA modification as their vaccine.” Pfizer and BioNTech already face multiple lawsuits from other companies that say the joint jab infringes on their patents, but both have said they will vigorously defend their patents. Pfizer said the company had not been served and was unable to comment at this time.
