USA- Moderna has announced that it’s suing Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement, claiming that they stole its technology created years before the epidemic.

According to a news release from Moderna, the complaint was filed in Massachusetts federal district court and Düsseldorf regional court in Germany and It demands unspecified monetary damages.

Moderna claimed that its mRNA technology, which was essential to the company’s development of its own Covid vaccine, was the subject of patent applications from 2010 to 2016.

According to the business, Pfizer and BioNTech later used the exact same technology for Comirnaty.

“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,” Moderna’s Chief Executive, Stéphane Bancel, said in the statement.

According to Bancel, the firm is still utilizing the technology to create medications for autoimmune, cardiovascular, and uncommon forms of cancer as well as HIV and the flu.

The business wants Pfizer and BioNTech to pay Moderna for utilizing two essential components of their mRNA technology, but it does not want Comirnaty to be taken off the market.

Pfizer and BioNTech have been sued by a number of other companies who contend that the vaccine created by the partnership infringes on their patents. According to Pfizer/BioNTech, they will zealously protect their patents.

In October 2020, Moderna agreed not to enforce its COVID-19-related patents while the pandemic was still going on.

The company stated in March of this year that it would uphold its promise to not enforce COVID-19-related patents in low- and middle-income nations, but that it still expected competitor businesses like Pfizer to respect its intellectual property.

The Covid vaccine, the sole commercial product of Moderna, generated US$10.4 billion in revenue this year compared to around US$22 billion for Pfizer’s vaccine.

Pfizer and BioNTech have been sued by a number of other companies who contend that the vaccine created by the partnership infringes on their patents. According to Pfizer/BioNTech, they will zealously protect their patents.

For instance, in July, the German company CureVac also sued BioNTech there. In a statement in response, BioNTech claimed that its work was unique.

A Pfizer spokesperson has said in a statement the company has not yet fully reviewed the complaint but it is “confident in our intellectual property supporting the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and will vigorously defend against the allegations of the lawsuit.”

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