PFIZER/BIONTECH SUED BY MODERNA FOR ALLEGED PATENT INFRINGEMENT OF COVID VACCINE

Fri 26 August 2022:

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are being sued by Moderna for alleged patent infringement in the development of the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the United States.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, claims they copied technology developed by Moderna years before the pandemic.

Moderna chief executive 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 during the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mr Bancel said the company is continuing to use the technology to develop treatments for influenza and HIV, as well as autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and rare forms of cancer.

“We believe that Pfizer and BioNTech unlawfully copied Moderna’s inventions, and they have continued to use them without permission,” Moderna’s chief legal officer Shannon Thyme Klinger added.

Moderna Inc and the partnership of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech were two of the first groups to develop a vaccine for COVID.

Moderna alleges Pfizer/BioNTech, without permission, copied mRNA technology that it had patented between 2010 and 2016, well before COVID-19 emerged in 2019.

Pfizer and BioNTech are already facing multiple lawsuits from other companies alleging that the partnership’s jab violates their patents, but both have stated that they will vigorously defend their patents.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent