DUBAI: Moderna is suing Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement in the development of the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the United States, alleging they copied technology that Moderna developed years before the pandemic.
Pfizer shares fell 1.4 percent before the bell while BioNTech was down about 2 percent.
The lawsuit, which seeks undetermined monetary damages, was being filed in US District Court in Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany, Moderna said in a news release on Friday.
“We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic,” Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said in the statement.
Moderna Inc, on its own, and the partnership of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE were two of the first groups to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
Just a decade old, Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had been an innovator in the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology that enabled the unprecedented speed in developing the COVID-19 vaccine.
An approval process that previously took years was completed in months, thanks largely to the breakthrough in mRNA vaccines, which teach human cells how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response.
Germany-based BioNTech had also been working in this field when it partnered with the US pharma giant Pfizer.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine first to Pfizer/BioNTech in December 2020, then one week later to Moderna.
Moderna’s COVID vaccine — its lone commercial product — has brought in $10.4 billion in revenue this year while Pfizer’s vaccine brought in about $22 billion.
Moderna alleges Pfizer/BioNTech, without permission, copied mRNA technology that Moderna had patented between 2010 and 2016, well before COVID-19 emerged in 2019 and exploded into global consciousness in early 2020.
Early in the pandemic, Moderna said it would not enforce its COVID-19 patents to help others develop their own vaccines, particularly for low- and middle-income countries. But in March 2022 Moderna said it expected companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech to respect its intellectual property rights. It said it would not seek damages for any activity before March 8, 2022.
Patent litigation is not uncommon in the early stages of new technology.
Pfizer and BioNTech are already facing multiple lawsuits from other companies who say the partnership’s vaccine infringes on their patents. Pfizer/BioNTech have said they will defend their patents vigorously.
Germany’s CureVac, for instance, also filed a lawsuit against BioNTech in Germany in July. BioNTech responded in a statement that its work was original.
Moderna has also been sued for patent infringement in the United States and has an ongoing dispute with the US National Institutes of Health over rights to mRNA technology.
In Friday’s statement, Moderna said Pfizer/BioNTech appropriated two types of intellectual property.
One involved an mRNA structure that Moderna says its scientists began developing in 2010 and were the first to validate in human trials in 2015.
“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,” Moderna said in its statement.
The second alleged infringement involves the coding of a full-length spike protein that Moderna says its scientists developed while creating a vaccine for the coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Although the MERS vaccine never went to market, its development helped Moderna rapidly roll out its COVID-19 vaccine.
Pfizer said the company had not been served and that they were unable to comment at this time.
Moderna sues Pfizer/BioNTech for patent infringement over COVID vaccine
https://arab.news/8s6cw
Moderna sues Pfizer/BioNTech for patent infringement over COVID vaccine
- Pfizer shares fell 1.4% before the bell while BioNTech was down about 2%
- The lawsuit was being filed in US District Court in Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany
Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives at Singapore security forum
- Ukrainian leader has been touring European nations in recent days to appeal for more military aid for the army
SINGAPORE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Saturday at a Singapore security forum, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground.
Zelensky will speak at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said, saying that Zelensky would appear in person.
There had been speculation that Zelensky would make an appearance at this weekend’s security forum attended by defense ministers from around the world, including the United States and China.
Zelensky has been touring European nations in recent days to appeal for more military aid for the Ukrainian army, which has been ceding ground to relentless Russian attacks.
The Singapore announcement follows a US decision to partially lift restrictions on using US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, which Zelensky has hailed as a “step forward.”
US President Joe Biden had come under increasing pressure from a desperate Ukraine to ease his ban but had resisted for fear it could drag NATO into direct conflict or even a nuclear standoff with Moscow.
Germany said Friday it too had given Ukraine permission to fire German-delivered weapons at targets in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday that there would be “serious consequences” if Western countries gave approval to Ukraine.
Ukraine is struggling to hold back a Russian ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow recently made its largest territorial gains in 18 months.
With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year, Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted and outgunned.
Many Kyiv allies remain uneasy about the prospect of sending Western troops to Ukraine.
In February, French President Emmanuel Macron sparked an uproar among NATO members when he refused to rule out sending troops to Ukraine.
Zelensky has visited Spain, Sweden, Portugal and Belgium in recent days as he seeks more weapons and aid for his struggling military, and to whip up support for a peace summit due to be held in Switzerland this month.
Sweden pledged on Wednesday military aid of 13.3 billion kronor ($1.25 billion) to Ukraine.
The Scandinavian country, which formally joined NATO in March, will donate a range of military supplies, including ASC 890 surveillance aircraft, Rb 99 medium-range air-to-air missiles and artillery ammunition, and its entire fleet of PBV 302 armored tracked personnel carriers.
Russia fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine, in an overnight barrage targeting energy sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
Russia has launched hundreds of aerial attacks at Ukraine’s power facilities throughout the war, causing significant damage and energy shortages as Ukraine’s stretched air defenses struggle to repel waves of drones and missiles.
Russian missiles and drones target Ukrainian energy sites
KYIV: Russia fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, in a barrage that targeted energy sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
Russia has launched hundreds of aerial attacks at Ukraine’s power facilities throughout the two-year war, causing significant damage and energy shortages as Ukraine’s stretched air defenses struggle to repel the waves of drones and missiles.
“The enemy launched 53 missiles of various types and 47 attack drones,” the air force said, adding that it shot down 35 of the missiles and all but one of the drones.
Two thermal power plants were damaged in the attack, the DTEK operator said, without specifying where they were located.
“It was another extremely difficult night for the Ukrainian energy sector. The enemy struck two of our thermal power plants. The equipment was seriously damaged,” the company said in a statement on Telegram.
It was the sixth major attack on DTEK thermal power plants since mid-March, it added.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Russia had targeted sites in five regions — Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zaporizhzhia — stretching from near the eastern frontlines to Ukraine’s west, which borders the EU.
The ministry warned that power restrictions were likely on Saturday evening as a result of the attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow was trying to “exploit” a lack of “determination” among Ukraine’s key Western backers and repeated his call for more air defense systems.
“Russia’s main goal is to normalize terror, to exploit the lack of sufficient air defense and determination of Ukraine’s partners,” he said in a social media post.
“This is a test of humanity and determination for the free world. Either we pass this test together, or the world will plunge into even greater destabilization and chaos,” he added.
Indonesia ready to send peacekeepers, medical staff to Gaza
- Prabowo said US President Joe Biden’s three-phase proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a step in the right direction
- Indonesia was also ready to receive and to treat 1,000 patients from Gaza
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, said on Saturday that his country was willing to send peacekeeping troops to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza if required.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security conference, Prabowo said US President Joe Biden’s three-phase proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a step in the right direction.
“When needed and when requested by the UN, we are prepared to contribute significant peacekeeping forces to maintain and monitor this prospective ceasefire as well as providing protection and security to all parties and to all sides,” Prabowo said.
The 72-year-old former special forces general and current Indonesian defense minister takes on the presidency of the world’s most populous Muslim nation in October.
He said President Joko Widodo had instructed him to announce that Indonesia was also ready “to evacuate, to receive and to treat with medical care up to 1,000 patients” from Gaza.
The Indonesia Hospital in Gaza, which was run by an Indonesia NGO, closed in November amid the fighting.
Prabowo said a comprehensive investigation into the humanitarian disaster in the Rafah area of Gaza was needed as well as a “just solution” to the situation in Palestine.
“And that means the rights of not only Israel to exist, but also the rights of the Palestinian people to have their own homeland, their own state, living in peace.”
20 drown in boat accident in eastern Afghanistan, official says
- At least five bodies had been recovered and efforts were underway to find the others
- Official says five people survived the accident, the cause of which was being investigated
KABUL: Twenty people, including children, drowned when a boat sank during a river crossing in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday, a provincial official said.
“A boat with women and children on board sank on Saturday morning at 7 am (0230 GMT) in the river in the Basawul area of Momand Dara district” of eastern Nangarhar, said Quraishi Badloon, the head of the province’s information department, in a post on social media platform X.
He said five people survived the accident, the cause of which was being investigated.
The Nangarhar Information and Culture Department said the authorities had sent a medical team and ambulances to the area, in a message shared with media.
At least five bodies had been recovered and efforts were underway to find the others, provincial government officials said.
Residents in the area regularly cross the river using boats often in poor condition, as there is no nearby bridge, local media reported.
South African vote tallying enters final stages with ANC on 40%
- The ANC has won every previous national election since the historic 1994 vote that ended white minority rule
- But its support has slid as the South African economy stagnated, unemployment climbed and infrastructure crumbled
MIDRAND, South Africa: Vote tallying in this week’s South African parliamentary election entered the final stages on Saturday, with the governing African National Congress (ANC) set to fall well short of a majority for the first time in 30 years of democracy.
The ANC has won every previous national election since the historic 1994 vote that ended white minority rule, but over the last decade its support has slid as South Africans have watched the economy stagnate, unemployment climb and infrastructure crumble.
With results in from over 97 percent of the more than 23,000 polling stations in Wednesday’s vote, the ANC stood at 40.11 percent, a precipitous drop from the 57.50 percent it secured at the last national election in 2019.
The biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, was at 21.72 percent, while uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president Jacob Zuma, had 14.83 percent of the vote.
MK’s strong performance, especially in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, is one of the main reasons behind the ANC’s dismal showing.
The ANC will now have to strike a coalition deal or another form of agreement with one or more smaller parties to govern, an unprecedented prospect in the post-apartheid era.
Investors in Africa’s most industrialized economy will hope the uncertain picture will quickly become clear.
Political parties’ share of the vote will determine the number of seats they get in the National Assembly, which then elects the next president.
That could still be the ANC’s leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the former liberation movement will remain the biggest party. But Ramaphosa will be badly weakened and is likely to face calls to quit from opposition parties and critics in the deeply-divided ANC.
On Friday, however, a top ANC official backed him to stay on as party leader, and analysts say there is no obvious successor to replace him.
The election commission has pencilled in a results announcement for Sunday.
