Moderna on Friday dragged Pfizer and BioNTech before United States and German courts, claiming that the two pharmaceutical giants stole its technology to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines.
Specifically, Moderna accused the biotech companies of copying its mRNA technology.
The suit is filed at the United States District Court in Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Düsseldorf in Germany, where BioNTech is based.
“Moderna believes that Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty infringes patents Moderna filed between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna’s foundational mRNA technology. This ground-breaking technology was critical to the development of Moderna’s own mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to make Comirnaty,” the company said.
The company maintains that it is not moving to oust Pfizer’s vaccine from the market nor is it seeking to prevent future sales of its vaccine. Moderna is also not seeking damages for its sale.
“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,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive.
The U.S. has 262 million Americans who have received at least one dose of a vaccine—78.2 per cent of the population. A Bloomberg tracker shows that about 224 million people have completed both doses and 108 million people have received boosters.
