Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech over Covid-19 vaccine

M.Oderna on Friday defeated main rivals Pfizer and BioNTech in the mRNA Covid vaccine race for the latest and perhaps most important patent in a series of intellectual property disputes over the technology behind a world-changing, surprisingly lucrative shot. sued for infringement. .

among them Complaintthe Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said it wasn’t seeking damages until March 8, 2022, before it said it wouldn’t enforce the patent due to the Covid-19 public health emergency. Nor did it seek damages in the 92 low- and middle-income countries where Moderna said it would not continue to enforce its patents.

Nonetheless, with all three companies looking to expand mRNA technology into new vaccines for infectious diseases and new treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases and rare diseases, the outcome of the lawsuits could be costly.

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It wasn’t entirely unexpected that the pandemic pharma giant would eventually go to war. There have long been competing claims over the central invention that made mRNA vaccines possible, but during the pandemic there was little incentive for companies to go to court, says Jacob, an intellectual property expert at the University of Illinois Law School. Sherkow said. and medical school.

When supplies were limited and governments were buying vaccines through prior agreements, little additional funding was available and many public benefits were lost. The company may commercialize shots soon.

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“I think the idea that there would be this Westphalia peace between the oligopoly of vaccine producers and that it would last forever was just unrealistic,” Sherkow said.

The lawsuit focuses on two key parts of the two approved mRNA vaccines. First, the mRNA itself is chemically modified so that it doesn’t immediately attack and destroy the string before the body induces the cell to produce the spike protein.

Moderna also says it pioneered the broader design of the mRNA coronavirus vaccine employed in both Covid shots in 2015.

“We are filing these lawsuits to protect our innovative mRNA technology platform,” Moderna CEO Stephan Bancel said in a statement. We invested billions of dollars in creating and patenting the decade leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic to protect our powerful mRNA technology platform.”

A Pfizer spokesperson said in a statement that the company had not fully considered the complaint but was “surprised” by Moderna’s decision.

“The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology and was developed by both BioNTech and Pfizer,” a spokesperson said. “We are confident in the intellectual property that supports the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and will vigorously defend against allegations of litigation.”

Two claims focus on aspects of technology that have already been at the center of significant patent disputes in their short history. The past few years have seen a spate of lawsuits over IP owners. lipid nanoparticlesis a technology that has evolved over 20 years to solve the difficult problem of getting genetic material into cells.

Moderna is currently facing lawsuit It allegedly copied recipes for lipid nanoparticles from two small biotech companies, Arbutus and Genevant. Alnylam, his $25 billion company that developed nanoparticles for use in another class of RNA technology in the 2000s and 2010s, sue both Pfizer and Moderna for Infringement.

Chemical modification has a similarly difficult history.brag Pioneer of mRNA Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman originally devised the idea of ​​altering the chemistry of mRNA to evade the body’s immune response at the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-2000s.

Moderna did not initially license its technology. He came up with slightly different modifications, but still ended up paying $76 million to license Calico and Weisman’s patents. BioNTech, which has worked closely with Muro for a long time, says it used the precise chemical modifications Moderna devised.

Sherkow said the court’s ruling could depend on how judges view Moderna’s October 2020 pledge not to enforce Moderna’s patents “while the pandemic lasts.” I said yes. Will Moderna be bound by that pledge, and if so, for how long? The World Health Organization has not declared the pandemic over and the United States remains a public health emergency.

But he doesn’t expect the lawsuit to drag on like other high-profile life science cases. He predicts it will be settled by his 2024.

“It’s not going to be like CRISPR interference that goes on forever,” he said. “It seems like a fairly straightforward patent lawsuit.”