CureVac has filed a patent lawsuit in the German Regional Court in Düsseldorf against BioNTech and two of its subsidiaries over the latter’s use of mRNA technology.
The company said it is ‘seeking fair compensation’ for breach of its intellectual property rights, over manufacture and sale of BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty.
CureVac said that its claim was based on more than two decades of work on mRNA technology, which played a crucial role in the design and development of BioNTech’s vaccine.
The technology is related to the engineering of mRNA molecules, including sequence modifications, along with mRNA vaccine formulations specific to SARS CoV-2 vaccines.
CureVac chief executive Franz-Werner Haas was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Many years of our research have also contributed to the success of the mRNA vaccines and made that possible. From our point of view, it is self-evident to respect the associated property rights.”
CureVac said that it does not seek an injunction or plans to pursue legal action that affects the production, sale or distribution of Comirnaty.
Also, it couldn’t point out patent infringement during the peak of the pandemic, but believes it is the right time, as we currently have better control over the pandemic, said the company.
BioNTech, in its statement, said: “BioNTech values and respects valid intellectual property rights. BioNTech’s work is original, and we will vigorously defend it against all allegations of patent infringement.
“However, we are aware that it is not unusual that other companies in the pharmaceutical industry, having witnessed the success of Comirnaty, are now suggesting that the vaccine potentially infringes their intellectual property rights.”
In July 2020, CureVac teamed up with GSK to jointly develop new products in prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases based on its mRNA technology.
The collaboration was later extended for the development of second-generation Covid-19 vaccine candidates and modified mRNA vaccine technologies.
