Biontech and its partner Pfizer took a while to respond to US competitor Moderna’s patent lawsuit. On Monday, Pfizer and Biontech launched a counterattack against Moderna. They sued the US company in federal court in Boston. According to media reports, they are requesting that Moderna’s lawsuit be dismissed and that its patents have not been infringed upon.
This counterclaim is directed against a lawsuit that Moderna filed in both the United States and Germany at the end of August. Moderna alleges that Biontech and Pfizer have violated patents that are crucial to two properties of the vaccine and its success. Initially, Biontech and Pfizer started the clinical phase with four vaccine candidates. Later, according to Moderna, they decided on the candidate “with exactly the same chemical modification as Spikevax”, Moderna’s vaccine.
Patent lawsuits are difficult. And it’s not just about a patent. “The vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer against the corona virus and its variants is protected by many patents,” says Markus Manns, an expert at Union Investment. So far it is unclear whether the two may have violated patents of the competition. It’s about a lot of money. Biontech and Pfizer have earned billions from the corona vaccine, as their quarterly reports show, and they are still doing it. “A lawsuit is worthwhile,” says Manns.
If a court found the patents infringing, Manns said the defendant would have to pay royalties to the plaintiff. According to him, they are usually in the single-digit percentage range. In absolute terms, these are large amounts because sales of the drug were so high, “but for Biontech and Pfizer it’s manageable”. Manns rules out the fact that the lawsuits go so far that the manufacturers are no longer allowed to sell their vaccines: “Nobody has an interest in that.”
Patent procedures can drag on for years
Biontech’s vaccine is based on a new technology, mRNA. To put it simply, the vaccine provides the body with the instructions it needs to mobilize its own defenses against the virus. It is “packaged” in lipids, which are also the subject of patent lawsuits. There will be complaints for a while. “Such patent lawsuits are not uncommon in the pharmaceutical industry,” says Manns.
The Tübingen-based company Curevac, which has not yet launched a vaccine, is suing the Mainz-based company Biontech. The US company Arbutus Biopharma is suing Moderna. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, also from the US, is suing Pfizer and Moderna. Union expert Manns does not expect quick results: “Such patent procedures can drag on for years.”