Did Pfizer and Biontech copy Moderna’s vaccine?

At the height of the pandemic of Covid-19, two laboratories were making headlines all over the world, Moderna and Pfizer. Today, Moderna is suing Pfizer and Biontech for patent infringement. Its CEO, Stéphane Bancel, says: “We are launching these lawsuits to protect the innovative messenger RNA technology platform that we have launched, for which we have invested billions of dollars”. Did Pfizer and Biontech copy Moderna’s technology?

Messenger RNA had never been used on a large scale before Covid vaccines. Moderna intends to claim ownership. “It’s a matter of protecting a very high potential market that would use this messenger RNA technology which has significant potential for flu vaccines, for the HIV sector, for autoimmune diseases, for cardiovascular diseases, for cancers”, confides Frédéric Bizard, health economist. Patent infringement proceedings are common in the pharmaceutical industry.