The clash of the Titans…
While both pharmaceutical giants Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are expected of making a fortune on COVID-19 vaccine sales this year, things have gotten a bit sour as Moderna suing rival vaccine makers Pfizer-BioNTech, alleging the partners infringed on its patents in developing their COVID-19 shot administered to hundreds of millions around the world.
The lawsuit, which seeks undetermined monetary damages, was being filed in US District Court in Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany, Moderna said in a news release on Friday
Here’s what Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said in the statement:
“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.”
“This foundational platform, which we began building in 2010, along with our patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, enabled us to produce a safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time after the pandemic struck.”
“As we work to combat health challenges moving forward, Moderna is using our mRNA technology platform to develop medicines that could treat and prevent infectious diseases like influenza and HIV, as well as autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and rare forms of cancer,” he said.
Moderna Inc, on its own, and the partnership of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE were two of the first groups to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
Here’s Pfizer’s response to Moderna’s surprised lawsuit:
“Pfizer/BioNTech has not yet fully reviewed the complaint but we are surprised by the litigation given the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine was based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology and developed by both BioNTech and Pfizer,” the company said. “We remain confident in our intellectual property supporting the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and will vigorously defend against the allegations of the lawsuit.”
‘Daily Wire’ has more details of this report:
Moderna says it does not want Pfizer’s vaccine removed from use, and would consider a “reasonable license” should its competitors want to use the vaccine in other markets, particularly in lower-income countries. They are also not seeking damages for the vaccine’s use in lower-income countries. But in other wealthier countries, Moderna is looking for compensation.
“Moderna expects Pfizer and BioNTech to compensate Moderna for Comirnaty®’s ongoing use of Moderna’s patented technologies,” said Moderna’s chief legal officer Shannon Thyme Klinger. “Our mission to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients by delivering on the promise of mRNA science cannot be achieved without a patent system that rewards and protects innovation.”
Just a decade old, Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had been an innovator in the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology that enabled unprecedented speed in developing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Germany-based BioNTech had also been working in this field when it partnered with the US pharma giant Pfizer.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine first to Pfizer/BioNTech in December 2020, then one week later to Moderna.
Source: DailyWire
