Pfizer, partner countersue Moderna over jab patents

Washington — Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE fired back at Moderna on Monday in a patent lawsuit over their rival COVID-19 vaccines, seeking dismissal of the lawsuit in the Boston federal court and an order that Moderna's patents are invalid and not infringed.

Moderna first sued Pfizer in August, accusing the company of violating its rights in three patents related to innovations that Moderna said it pioneered before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moderna has also filed a related lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany. All three companies are also embroiled in US patent disputes with other companies over the vaccines.

A Pfizer spokesperson said the company and BioNTech are confident in their intellectual property and will "vigorously defend" against Moderna's claims.

Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Monday filing.

In its lawsuit, Moderna asked for an undisclosed amount of money damages from Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses sold since March. Pfizer's vaccine made over $26.4 billion for the New York-based company in the first nine months of this year, while Moderna sold over $13.5 billion worth of its vaccine over the same period, according to company filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pfizer and BioNTech said in their Monday filing that they developed their vaccine independently, calling Moderna's lawsuit "revisionist history" and arguing its patents "far exceed its actual contributions to the field".

The companies argued that Moderna ignored the contributions of their scientists to foundational mRNA technology, as well as those of researchers at the US government's National Institutes of Health.

Moderna also waived its right to bring the lawsuit when it pledged not to sue other COVID-19 vaccine makers during the pandemic, the filing said, arguing the pandemic has not yet ended.

In another development, Pfizer and BioNTech said on Monday they have submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization of their Omicron-adapted COVID-19 vaccine booster for children aged 6 months through 4 years.

If authorized, children would receive the primary series consisting of two doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and one shot of the Omicron-adapted bivalent vaccine, the company said.

The bivalent vaccine, which targets the original strain and the BA.4/BA.5 Omicron subvariants, is currently authorized as a booster dose for ages 5 years and older in the United States and the European Union.

Agencies Via Xinhua