Moderna is suing fellow vaccine developers Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, accusing it of infringing on patents related to mRNA technology used in their COVID-19 vaccine.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company claims Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine Comirnaty infringes on patents it filed between 2010 and 2016 related to its mRNA technology.
“We believe that Pfizer and BioNTech unlawfully copied Moderna’s inventions, and they have continued to use them without permission,” said Moderna chief legal officer.
The lawsuit against Pfizer was to be filed Friday in the United States District Court in Massachusetts, Moderna said.
The complaint against BioNTech will be filed in the Regional Court of Düsseldorf in Germany.
The same mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines could help treat cancer.
Moderna accuses Pfizer and BioNTech of copying two key features of the company’s patented technologies, which they say are “critical to the success of mRNA vaccines.”
One of the patented technologies was a chemical modification that helps avoid an undesirable immune response when mRNA is introduced to the body.
The company said Pfizer and BioNTech had four vaccine candidates that didn’t infringe on Moderna’s patents but ultimately decided to go with a vaccine that did.