Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech alleging patent infringement around Covid vaccine

Moderna claimed Friday that it is suing Pfizer and BioNTech, alleging that the two companies copied Moderna's know-how to make its Covid vaccine Comirnaty.

"We feel that Pfizer and BioNTech unlawfully copied Moderna's inventions, and they have ongoing to use them without permission," Moderna Chief Lawful Officer Shannon Thyme Klinger stated in a assertion.

The patent infringement lawsuits were being filed in the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Massachusetts and the Regional Courtroom of Düsseldorf in Germany, in accordance to a news release.

Moderna explained it submitted patents from 2010 to 2016 for its mRNA technological innovation, which was significant in the firm's creation of its personal Covid vaccine. The corporation alleges that Pfizer and BioNTech then copied that identical engineering for Comirnaty.

"We are submitting these lawsuits to defend the ground breaking mRNA engineering system that we pioneered, invested billions of bucks in building, and patented in the course of the 10 years previous the COVID-19 pandemic," the company's CEO, Stéphane Bancel, stated.

"This foundational platform, which we began constructing in 2010, alongside with our patented get the job done on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, enabled us to produce a harmless and really helpful Covid-19 vaccine in record time after the pandemic struck."

Bancel mentioned the company is continuing to use the technological innovation to acquire remedies for influenza and HIV, as nicely as autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and unusual forms of cancer.

This is a creating story. Test back for updates.