DUBAI: Moderna is suing Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement in development of first Covid-19 vaccine approved in United States, alleging they copied technology that Moderna developed years before endemic. Pfizer shares fell 1.4 percent before bell while BioNTech was down about 2 percent. Lawsuit, which seeks undetermined monetary damages was being filed in US District Court in Massachusetts and Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany, Moderna said in a news release. “We are filing these lawsuits to protect innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating and patented during decade preceding Covid-19 endemic,” Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said in statement.

Moderna Inc, on its own and partnership of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE were two of first groups to develop a vaccine for novel coronavirus. Just a decade old, Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts had been an innovator in messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology that enabled unprecedented speed in developing Covid-19 vaccine. Germany-based BioNTech had also been working in this field when it partnered with US pharma giant Pfizer. US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorisation for vaccine first to Pfizer/BioNTech in December 2020, then one week later to Moderna. Moderna’s vaccine its lone commercial product has brought in $ 10.4 billion in revenue this year while Pfizer’s vaccine brought in about $ 22 billion. Moderna alleges Pfizer/BioNTech, without permission copied mRNA technology that Moderna had patented between 2010 and 2016, well before Covid-19 emerged in 2019 and exploded into global consciousness in early 2020. Germany’s CureVac for instance also filed a lawsuit against BioNTech in Germany in July. BioNTech responded in a statement that its work was original. In Friday’s statement, Moderna said Pfizer/BioNTech appropriated two types of intellectual property. One involved an mRNA structure that Moderna says its scientists began developing in 2010 and were first to validate in human trials in 2015. “Pfizer and BioNTech took four different vaccine candidates into clinical testing, which included options that would have steered clear of Moderna’s innovative path. Pfizer and BioNTech, however, ultimately decided to proceed with a vaccine that has same exact mRNA chemical modification to its vaccine,” Moderna said in its statement.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 27 2022

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