US lab Moderna has launched a legal battle against Pfizer-Biontech, accusing them of infringing patents needed for their messenger RNA vaccine against Covid-19.
“Moderna is convinced that Pfizer and Biontech’s Covid-19 vaccine by Kommernati infringes patents filed by Moderna between 2010 and 2016,” the company said in a statement.
Moderna said it intends to use these mRNA-related technologies to develop treatments for influenza, HIV, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
And Moderna and Pfizer (collaborating with Biontech) were the first to produce Corona virus vaccines shortly after the pandemic outbreak, with messenger RNA technology that allows human cells to generate the proteins present in the virus so that the immune system gets used to recognizing and suppressing this virus.
Prior to this, vaccines were based on viral doses that were attenuated or reset to allow the body to get used to fighting the virus.
Treatments that require clinical trials to test their safety have often taken several years to develop.
The use of messenger RNA technology in the world’s most widely used vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech is the culmination of four decades of research that has overcome several hurdles.
There are high hopes for this technology, which offers wide flexibility and the ability to stimulate the production of antigens in the body.
Moderna said it filed a complaint in Massachusetts in the US and Düsseldorf in Germany, and that the legal dispute could take several years.
Pfizer/Biontech said in a letter to Agence France-Presse that it has not yet read the full contents of the complaint, but both groups have made no secret of their surprise at these developments given that Pfizer/Biontech’s Covid-19 vaccine is based on the company’s exclusive messenger RNA technology. Biontech and was developed as part of a collaboration between Biontech and Pfizer.
“Unfortunately, other companies often say that a successful product infringes on their intellectual property,” Biontech said in a separate statement.
Both groups expressed their willingness to “brutally” defend their interests against Moderna’s accusations.
This is not the first patent infringement lawsuit regarding new mRNA technology that Moderna Group is being pursued by two small biotech companies, Arbutus Biopharma Corporation and Genevent Sciences.
Biontech is a complaint filed in Germany by CureVac, a German company, to which Pfizer/Biontech responded with a US lawsuit.
