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Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech over Covid-19 vaccine, alleging they copied technology
- Moderna has filed a lawsuit against the two pharmaceutical partners and said it was seeking damages for activities occurring after March 8 this year
- It said Pfizer, BioNTech copied technology ‘without permission’; previously it said it would not enforce patent infringements for Covid vaccines
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Moderna on Friday said it was suing rival vaccine-makers Pfizer and BioNTech, alleging the partners infringed on its patents in developing their Covid-19 shot that has been administered to hundreds of millions around the world.
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The lawsuits filed both in US district court in Massachusetts, and in regional court in Düsseldorf, Germany, set up a showdown between the leading manufacturers of Covid-19 jabs that are a key tool in the fight against the disease.
“Moderna believes that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty infringes patents Moderna filed between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna’s foundational mRNA technology,” the company said in a statement.
“This groundbreaking technology was critical to the development of Moderna’s own mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to make Comirnaty,” Moderna added.
The mRNA technology used in the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shots differs from that in traditional vaccines, which rely on injecting weakened or dead forms of a virus to allow the immune system to recognise it and build antibodies.
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Instead, mRNA vaccines deliver instructions to cells to build a harmless piece of the spike protein found on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19. After creating this spike protein, cells can recognise and fight the real virus.
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