A Massachusetts pharmaceutical company is suing Moderna and Pfizer over allegations that the firms used proprietary nanoparticle technology in COVID-19 vaccines.
- Both Moderna and Pfizer are facing legal action from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- The company claims that its patented nanoparticle technology has been used in vaccine development by larger companies.
- Both Pfizer and Moderna have been vocal opponents of intellectual property rights forfeiture and staunch defenders of their vaccine patents over the past year.
- Pfizer estimates that it will earn $32 billion from vaccine sales this year, while Moderna predicts $19 billion.
Two leading US COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers are facing legal action alleging they infringed another company’s copyright in developing their Covid vaccines.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, filed separate lawsuits on Thursday against fellow Cambridge-based pharmaceutical company Moderna and New York-based Pfizer.
The lawsuits allege that both giants used Alnylam’s patented lipid nanoparticle technology in their Covid vaccine deployment.
Pfizer and Moderna have openly opposed patent cancellation of their vaccines to make them more affordable in developing countries, but now there are allegations that their vaccine was made using technology they didn’t originally own.
Moderna is also facing legal action from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and two small Vancouver-based biotech firms.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals accuses Pfizer and Moderna of using their patented nanoparticle technology in a recently filed lawsuit.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were huge financial successes for both firms, and each was a staunch advocate of keeping patent laws intact for their vaccine technology.
“Alnylam seeks fair compensation for the use of its technology, based on patent applications for a broad class of biodegradable lipids, invented over a decade ago as a result of extensive research and investment,” the company said in a statement.
“The company is proud that this work has contributed to the rapid development of life-saving vaccines.”
Alnylam filed two lawsuits, one against each company, both with similar but different allegations.
He asks for an undisclosed amount of money as damages.
The company claims to have shared confidential information about its nanoparticle technology with Moderna in 2013 and 2014.
At the time, the companies were discussing a licensing deal that never went through.
Moderna allegedly used the information it received as part of the development of its vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccine is Moderna’s only commercial product that has made a little-known biotech company a household name.
The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that the Moderna vaccine has been used 209 million times to fully vaccinate 75 million people and support 41 million others.
The company has also faced accusations from Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences, based in Vancouver, Canada, that they are using lipid nanoparticle technology that infringes on Canadian companies’ patents.
“We demand fair compensation for Moderna’s use of our patented technology, which was developed with great effort and expense, without which Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine would not have been successful,” Arbutus CEO William Collier said in a statement.
The company is also now under fire from the federal government as it is pursuing a lawsuit from NIH.
The NIH claims the vaccine was a joint project between the agency and Moderna, while Moderna refused to include the three NIH scientists in its patent application for the mRNA sequence that forms the basis of the vaccine.
Despite these problems, the introduction of the vaccine was very successful for Moderna.
The company is projecting $19 billion in revenue this year, and CEO Stéphane Bancel said earlier this year that he thinks Americans will need another Covid vaccine made by his company this fall.
While Moderna has been open to letting other firms recreate its vaccine and has promised not to apply its patent, it recently reversed the decision in part, saying it will now apply it in developed countries.
Alnylam also accuses Pfizer of using its technology to develop the New York-based company’s vaccine.
Pfizer estimates vaccine sales revenue this year at $32 billion, a figure that will increase if regulators approve its application to roll out a fourth Covid vaccine for Americans aged 65 and over.
The company manufactures the most popular jab in the US and much of the Western world. It has been administered 328 million times to fully vaccinate 124 million people and fully vaccinate 53 million others.