Key insights
- CureVac has sued Moderna for patent infringement related to mRNA technology used in Moderna's Spikevax vaccine. This adds to the ongoing wave of patent lawsuits among biotech companies seeking royalties from COVID-19 vaccine sales. While the outcome is uncertain, the lawsuit introduces a degree of risk and uncertainty for Moderna, potentially impacting investor sentiment.
By Blake Brittain
April 24 (Reuters) - German biotech company CureVac sued Moderna in Delaware federal court on Friday, alleging that Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax infringed CureVac patents related to messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
CureVac said in the lawsuit that Moderna copied its technology for stabilizing fragile mRNA to use in vaccines and requested royalties from Moderna’s Spikevax sales in damages.
Germany-based BioNTech -- which partnered with Pfizer to create the competing COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty -- acquired CureVac last year. BioNTech filed a separate U.S. patent lawsuit against Moderna over its next-generation mNEXSPIKE COVID-19 shot in February.
Moderna said in a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit filed on Friday and will defend itself. Spokespeople for CureVac and BioNTech did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
The case is part of a wave of high-stakes patent lawsuits from biotech companies seeking royalties for the technology used in blockbuster COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna sued Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement over Comirnaty in 2022, in a lawsuit that is ongoing.
Companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals have also filed patent lawsuits seeking shares of the companies’ tens of billions of dollars of revenue from COVID-19 vaccine sales.
CureVac’s Friday lawsuit accused Moderna of infringing eight of its U.S. patents.