WSJ headline: Moderna Sues Pfizer and BioNTech, Alleging Infringement of MRNA Patents
Sub-headline: Moderna says its rivals copied its methods for encoding genetic material and used the same chemical modification in their Covid-19 vaccine
Moderna Inc. sued rival Covid-19 vaccine makers Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, alleging that the companies’ shot infringes on key intellectual property owned by Moderna.
Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine relies on messenger RNA technology that Moderna had developed and patented years ago, including a chemical modification that avoids prompting an undesirable immune response, Moderna said in lawsuits filed Friday.
Moderna filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court in Massachusetts and said it would file a separate lawsuit in the Regional Court of Düsseldorf in Germany.