Another U.S. company files patent lawsuit against BioNTech

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The logos of mRNA partners Pfizer and Moderna

Photo: Dado Ruvic / REUTERS

The US biotech company Promosome sees its patents infringed by the billions of corona vaccines sold by the manufacturers Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech. The companies had "failed to give Promosome what it deserves for the development of a breakthrough technology," Promosome's attorney said Tuesday at the filing of a lawsuit in federal court in San Diego.

The vaccine manufacturers have copied the technology developed by Promosome, which makes it possible to produce mRNA in such small doses that it can be used safely and effectively in the vaccines, the explanatory memorandum said. Promosome charges a share of the royalties. Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

It's about a piece of the billion-dollar pie

Last year, the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer earned 37.8 billion dollars with the corona vaccine Comirnaty, which was developed in partnership with the Mainz-based company Biontech. Moderna raised about $18.4 billion from its Spikevax vaccine. Promosome states in the lawsuit that it met with Moderna between 2013 and 2016 to discuss licensing its technology. Likewise, the president of Promosome demonstrated them to a senior BioNTech scientist in 2015. According to the San Diego and New York-based company, a license agreement has not been concluded with either manufacturer.

For some time now, a patent dispute has been raging over the novel mRNA vaccines between the major competitors Moderna on the one hand and BioNTech and Pfizer on the other. Initially, Moderna had filed a lawsuit against the competitors. Then, in December 2022, BioNTech and Pfizer launched a kind of counterattack and sued Moderna in a US court in Boston.

Moderna accuses the Mainz-based vaccine manufacturer and the US pharmaceutical giant of infringing its patents in the production of corona vaccines. According to Moderna, it claims to have developed corresponding technologies even before the pandemic.

Pfizer and BioNTech think this is nonsense. They are calling for the dismissal of a Moderna lawsuit. To this end, the court is to determine, to their knowledge, that Moderna's patents are invalid.

dpa/Reuters