Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech over Covid vaccines. According to Moderna, the technology used in Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines violates its patents filed between 2010 and 2016. “We are suing to protect our innovative mRNA technology platform in which we have invested billions,” says Moderna.
Moderna filed the lawsuit in the Massachusetts district court and a German regional court. Moderna’s decision to sue represents an escalation in the battle for intellectual property over mRNA rights. According to experts, the stakes are high, as Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna expect to generate $ 52 billion in vaccine sales in 2022.
“We believe Pfizer and BioNTech illegally copied Moderna’s inventions and continued to use them without permission,” says Moderna’s chief legal officer Shannon Thyme Klinger. Moderna believes Pfizer and BioNTech have copied two core elements of its patented technologies. “When Covid emerged, neither Pfizer nor Moderna had the level of experience in developing” mRNA vaccines and, Moderna highlights, knowingly followed Moderna in developing their vaccines.