KEY TOOL AGAINST DEADLY PANDEMIC
The shots have repeatedly been the subject of inaccurate claims that they are dangerous, but health authorities say they are both safe and effective.
The lawsuits – in US district court in Massachusetts, and in regional court in Dusseldorf, Germany – are not seeking the removal of the rival vaccine or an injunction on future sales.
Moderna said it had begun building up the technology in 2010 and patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, which allowed for the rollout of its shots in “record time” after the pandemic struck.
The virus has killed at least 6.48 million people worldwide since 2020 and made nearly 600 million ill, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
In addition to death and suffering, the disease has led to a reshaping of life ranging from a change in norms on working from home to a scrambling of supply chains and workforces.
Moderna said it pledged in October 2020 not to enforce its COVID-19-related patents while the pandemic continued, but less than two years later changed that stance as the fight shifted gears.
“Moderna expected companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech to respect its intellectual property rights and would consider a commercially reasonable license should they request one for other markets,” it said.
“Pfizer and BioNTech have failed to do so,” the firm added.
These types of lawsuits are not unheard of in the pharmaceutical industry, where patents can be worth billions of dollars, and can take years to resolve.
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