COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna is suing Pfizer and the German drugmaker BioNTech, accusing its most important rivals of copying Moderna’s expertise so as to make their very own vaccine.
Cambridge-based Moderna mentioned Friday that Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine Comirnaty infringes on patents Moderna filed a number of years in the past defending the expertise behind its preventive shot, Spikevax. The firm filed patent infringement lawsuits in each U.S. federal courtroom and a German courtroom.
Pfizer spokeswoman Pam Eisele mentioned the corporate had not absolutely reviewed Moderna’s lawsuit, however the drugmaker was stunned by it, on condition that their vaccine relies on proprietary expertise developed by each BioNTech and Pfizer.
She mentioned in an electronic mail that Pfizer Inc., based mostly in New York, would “vigorously defend” towards any allegations within the case. BioNTech mentioned in an announcement late Friday that its work was “original” and that it too would defend itself.
Moderna and Pfizer’s two-shot vaccines each use mRNA expertise to assist folks struggle the coronavirus.
“When COVID-19 emerged, neither Pfizer nor BioNTech had Moderna’s level of experience with developing mRNA vaccines for coronaviruses,” Moderna mentioned in a grievance filed Friday within the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The mRNA vaccines work by injecting a genetic code for the spike protein that coats the floor of the coronavirus. That code, the mRNA, is encased in slightly ball of fats, and instructs the physique’s cells to make some innocent spike copies that practice the immune system to acknowledge the true virus.
That strategy is radically completely different than how vaccines have historically been made.
Moderna mentioned it began creating its mRNA expertise platform in 2010, and that helped the corporate rapidly produce its COVID-19 vaccine after the pandemic arrived in early 2020.
By the top of that yr, U.S. regulators had cleared photographs from each Pfizer and Moderna to be used after medical analysis confirmed that each had been extremely efficient.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel mentioned in a ready assertion that the vaccine developer pioneered that expertise and invested billions of {dollars} in creating it.
Moderna mentioned in its grievance that Pfizer and BioNTech copied some important options of its expertise, together with making the “exact same chemical modification to their mRNA that Moderna scientists first developed years earlier” and went on to make use of in Spikevax.
Pfizer’s Comirnaty introduced in additional than $36 billion in gross sales globally final yr, and analysts anticipate it to usher in practically $33 billion this yr, in line with FactSet.
Moderna Inc. booked $17.6 billion in income from its vaccine final yr. Analysts challenge greater than $21 billion in 2022.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”