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Moderna is suing Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday, August 26, for patent infringement. The two companies say they are surprised by this action, but ready to defend themselves.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, two laboratories were making headlines all over the world: Pfizer and Moderna. Friday, August 26, Moderna sues Pfizer-BioNTech for patent infringement. “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”, explained the CEO, Stéphane Bancel. Messenger RNA had never been used on a large scale before Covid vaccines.
Today, Moderna intends to claim ownership. “You should know that it’s a question of protecting a very high-potential market that would use this messenger RNA technology, which has significant therapeutic potential for vaccines against influenza, for the HIV sector, for autoimmune diseases. -immune, for cardiovascular diseases, for cancers”analyzes Frédéric Bizard, health economist.
A market that weighs heavily, therefore. In 2021, Moderna sold 807 million Covid vaccines, and generated $17.7 billion. Pfizer has for its part sold 3 billion doses, for 36.8 billion dollars. Patent infringement lawsuits are common in the pharmaceutical industry, but Moderna was unwilling to take any action when the outbreak was raging, experts say.