Moderna sues rival vaccine maker Pfizer: Will move affect availibility of COVID-19 vaccine?

Moderna has sued rival drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, alleging patent infringement related to the development of the first COVID-19 vaccines.

Moderna, a US-based biotech firm, has accused Pfizer and BioNTech of copying its mRNA technology, which it created years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Moderna believes that Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty infringes patents Moderna filed between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna’s foundational mRNA technology,” the firm said.

“Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to make Comirnaty,” Moderna further alleged.

What does this lawsuit mean? Will it impact the availability of the COVID-19 vaccines?

Let’s take a closer look:

What is the Moderna-Pfizer controversy?

Moderna has claimed in its statement that Pfizer-BioNTech copied two key features of its intellectual property.

One alleged infringement is of the mRNA structure that its scientists started working on in 2010 and were the first to demonstrate in human trials in 2015.

The second is the coding of a full-length spike protein that Moderna developed while manufacturing the shot for the coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

“Pfizer and BioNTech took four different vaccine candidates into clinical testing, which included options that would have steered clear of Moderna’s innovative path. Pfizer and BioNTech, however, ultimately decided to proceed with a vaccine that has the same exact mRNA chemical modification to its vaccine,” Reuters quoted Moderna as saying.

Moderna has filed a lawsuit in the United States and Germany seeking unstated financial damages.

What is mRNA technology?

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines aid the cells in making a protein or a piece of a protein that will trigger an immune response inside the body. This immune response, wherein antibodies are produced, protects the body and helps fight the virus in the future.

After vaccination, mRNA enters cells shortly and tells them to create a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which then evokes an immune response, Dr Adam Taylor, a virologist and research fellow at Queensland’s Griffith University, told Reuters.

Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines use the mRNA technology, which the former introduced commercially for the first time in COVID-19 shots, BBC reported.

Meanwhile, other vaccines use the technique of injecting the weakened or dead forms of a virus which is recognised by the immune system to create antibodies.

ALSO READ: WHO approves France’s Valneva vaccine against COVID-19: Here’s everything you need to know about it

Pfizer ‘surprised’ by the lawsuit

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer expressed surprise over the lawsuit and said it had not completely reviewed Moderna’s complaint.

“The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology,” Pfizer said in a statement.

“We remain confident in our intellectual property supporting the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and will vigorously defend against the allegations of the lawsuit,” the company’s spokesperson said, as per BBC.

Moderna’s change in stance

Earlier in 2020, Moderna had said it would not effectuate its patent so that other drug manufacturers can invent their own vaccines, especially for low- and middle-income countries.

“Moderna refrained from asserting its patents earlier so as not to distract from efforts to bring the pandemic to an end as quickly as possible,” the company had said.

Will the lawsuit affect COVID-19 vaccine availability?

That’s unlikely.

Moderna has said it is not seeking to remove Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine, Comirnaty, from the market but for compensation.

As per The Verge, there should not be a major effect on the production of the COVID-19 vaccine by the partners after Moderna’s litigation.

“Moderna expects Pfizer and BioNTech to compensate Moderna for Comirnaty’s ongoing use of Moderna’s patented technologies,” The Verge cited Shannon Thyme Klinger, Moderna’s chief legal officer, as saying.

Similar lawsuits

A lawsuit was filed against BioNTech by German biotech company CureVac alleging patent infringement linked to the use of specific mRNA molecules. BioNTech denied the charges and said its work was original.

In March, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals filed lawsuits against Pfizer and Moderna for allegedly violating a patent that covers a “breakthrough class of cationic biodegradable lipids used to form lipid nanoparticles” for mRNA-based vaccines, reported Fierce Pharma.

Moderna has also been sued for patent infringement in the US and is currently involved in altercation with the U.S. National Institutes of Health over rights to mRNA technology.

With inputs from agencies

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