Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech over Covid-19 vaccine patent

The American biotechnology company Moderna announced this Friday (26) that it will file a complaint against Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement on its messenger RNA vaccine against Covid-19.

“Modern is satisfied that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine infringes patents filed by Moderna between 2010 and 2016, which cover Moderna’s fundamental messenger RNA technology,” the company said in a statement.

Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech were the first companies in the sector to manufacture vaccines against the coronavirus, shortly after the beginning of the pandemic, thanks to messenger RNA technology, which allows human cells to manufacture proteins present in the virus to accustom the immune system to recognize it and neutralize it.

Until then, vaccines relied on weakened or inactivated forms of the virus to train the body to defend itself. The development of drugs, as well as clinical trials to verify their safety, could take several years.

The use of messenger RNA technology in Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, among the most injected in the world, was the result of four decades of research that overcame numerous obstacles.

“This innovative technology was crucial to the development of Moderna’s own messenger RNA vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to manufacture Comirnaty,” added the Moderna statement.