Moderna sued Pfizer and BioNTech on Aug. 26, alleging the companies infringed on its patents for technology utilized by COVID-19 vaccines.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are built on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. The problem is that they both use key features that Moderna scientists developed, including the same coronavirus protein encoding, according to the 39-page lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. court in Massachusetts.
“Despite recognizing the importance of patents to innovators such as Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech have copied Moderna’s intellectual property and have continued to use Moderna’s inventions without permission. Moderna therefore brings this lawsuit to protect the mRNA technology platform it innovated, invested in, and patented, and to ensure that intellectual property is respected,” the suit says….