Pfizer has not been served and is “unable to comment at this time,” a company spokesperson told CNN. Moderna said in the statement that it does not aim to remove Pfizer’s vaccine from the market or prevent future sales of its vaccine, and also does not seek compensation from its sale in specific cases. These circumstances include selling the vaccines to AMC 92 countries that are low- and middle-income countries, also in cases where “the US government would be responsible for any damages” and for activities before March 8, 2022. “In line with its commitment to equitable global access, in October 2020, Moderna pledged not to enforce its patents related to COVID-19 while the pandemic continued. In March 2022, when the collective fight against COVID- 19 entered a new phase and vaccine supply became No longer a barrier to access in many parts of the world, Moderna updated its commitment.It made clear that while it will never enforce its patents on any COVID-19 vaccine used in 92 low and middle income countries in GAVI COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC 92), Moderna expected companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech to respect its intellectual property rights and would consider a commercially reasonable license if requested for other markets. Pfizer and BioNTech did not,” the statement said. . Moderna also outlined specific instances where the company alleges Pfizer infringed on its patents, saying the company moved forward with “a vaccine that has the same exact chemical modification of mRNA as the Spikevax vaccine. Moderna scientists began developing it the chemical modification that avoids triggering an unwanted immune response when the mRNA is introduced into the body in 2010 and were the first to validate it in human trials in 2015.” Moderna also says that “Pfizer and BioNTech copied Moderna’s approach to encoding the full-length spike protein in a lipid nanoparticle formulation for a coronavirus. Moderna scientists developed this approach when they created a vaccine for the coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) years before COVID-19 first appeared.” Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA Covid-19 vaccines form the backbone of the US vaccination strategy, with Pfizer making up the majority of doses administered. As of Friday morning, 360,175,884 million doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the US, and 229,236,868 doses of Moderna have been administered. This is breaking news and will be updated.
