The American pharmaceutical group Moderna, famous for its vaccine once morest Covid-19, is suing its competitor Pfizer-BioNTech. He accuses the latter of patent infringement.
The American biotechnology company Moderna announced Friday, August 26 to file a complaint once morest Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement concerning their messenger RNA vaccine once morest Covid-19.
“Moderna is satisfied that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine infringes patents filed by Moderna between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna’s fundamental messenger RNA technology,” a company statement said.
A new form of vaccine
Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech are the first to put their coronavirus vaccines into production. Thanks to this messenger RNA technology which makes it possible to order human cells to manufacture proteins present in the virus in order to accustom the immune system to recognize and neutralize it.
Until then, vaccines relied on weakened or inactivated forms of the virus to train the body to defend itself, and the development of remedies, as well as clinical trials to verify their safety, might take several years.
“This breakthrough technology was crucial to the development of Moderna’s own messenger RNA vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to manufacture Comirnaty,” Moderna’s statement added.