Moderna Mounts Legal Fight Against Pfizer/BioNTech Over COVID-19 Vaccine

Moderna filed a lawsuit on Friday against competitors Pfizer and BioNTech, alleging copyright infringement over the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

The company claims its competitors’ Comirnaty vaccine “unlawfully infringes patents Moderna filed between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna's foundational mRNA technology,” according to a press release. 

"We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic," said Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel. "This foundational platform, which we began building in 2010, along with our patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, enabled us to produce a safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time after the pandemic struck.”