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
Xi says China willing to be a partner, friend with the US
“China is willing to be a partner and friend with the United States. This will benefit not only the two countries, but the world,” Xi said in remarks from a letter to the 2024 annual awards dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations, according to a CCTV news report.
Xi pointed out that China-US relations are among the most important bilateral relations in the world, which have a bearing on the future and destiny of mankind, according to the letter.
The two countries have been at odds over national security concerns, ongoing trade spats as well as China’s actions in the South China Sea and intensified military drills around Taiwan.
Trade relations soured over the past year and have centered around issues including restrictions on electric vehicles and advanced semiconductors.
“China has always handled China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and has always believed that the success of China and the United States is an opportunity for each other,” Xi said.
North Korea says 1.4 million young people apply to join army
The young people, including students and youth league officials who had signed petitions to join the army, were determined to fight in a “sacred war of destroying the enemy with the arms of the revolution,” the KCNA report said.
Photographs published by KCNA showed what it said were young people signing petitions at an undisclosed location.
North Korea’s claim of having more than one million young people volunteering to enlist in the country’s Korean People’s Army in just two days comes at a time when tensions on the Korean peninsula are running high.
North Korea has made similar claims in the past when there have been heightened tensions in the region.
Last year, state media reported on 800,000 of its citizens volunteering to join the North’s military to fight against the United States.
In 2017, nearly 3.5 million workers, party members and soldiers volunteered to join or rejoin its army, the reclusive state’s state media said at that time.
It is very difficult to verify the North’s claims.
According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), North Korea has 1.28 million active soldiers and about 600,000 reservists.
The IISS also said it had 5.7 million Worker/Peasant Red Guard reservists with many units unarmed.
In the latest sign of the growing tensions, North Korea blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas on Tuesday, prompting South Korea’s military to fire warning shots.
Pyongyang had said last week it would cut off the inter-Korean roads and railways entirely and further fortify the areas on its side of the border as part of its push for a “two-state” system, scrapping its longstanding goal of unification.
The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
North Korea has also accused Seoul of sending drones over its capital and the two Koreas have clashed over balloons of trash floated since May from North Korea. Pyongyang has said the launches are a response to balloons sent by anti-regime activists in the South.
South Korea’s government has declined to say whether its military or civilians had flown the alleged drones over Pyongyang.
“If a war breaks out, the ROK will be wiped off the map. As it wants a war, we are willing to put an end to its existence,” the KCNA report said, referring to the South’s official name the Republic of Korea.
South Korea’s defense ministry warned on Sunday “if North Korea inflicts harm on the safety of our people, that day will be the end of the North Korean regime,” Yonhap news agency reported.
US concerned by reports of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia
WASHINGTON: The United States is “concerned” by reports of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia in Ukraine, a White House spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week accused North Korea of transferring personnel to Russia’s armed forces, saying his intelligence agencies had briefed him on “the actual involvement of North Korea in the war” in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has dismissed the allegation as “fake news.”
White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the involvement of North Korean troops in Ukraine, if true, would mark a significant increase in the North Korea-Russia defense relationship.
“Such a move would also indicate a new level of desperation for Russia as it continues to suffer significant casualties on the battlefield in its brutal war against Ukraine,” Savett said in a statement.
Washington says North Korea has supplied Russia with ballistic missiles and ammunition. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers but have vowed to boost military ties, possibly including joint drills.
The US Army’s Indo-Pacific commander, General Charles Flynn, told an event in Washington that North Korean personnel being involved in the conflict would allow Pyongyang to get real-time feedback on its weapons, something that had not been possible in the past.
“That’s different because they are providing capabilities and – open source reporting – there’s manpower that is also over there,” he said at the Center for a New American Security.
“That kind of feedback from a real battlefield to North Korea to be able to make adjustments to their weapons, their ammunition, their capabilities, and even their people – to me, is very concerning,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when he visited Pyongyang in June, and said it included a mutual assistance clause under which each side agreed to help the other repel external aggression.
Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon
WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris spent much of Tuesday questioning Donald Trump’s mental state and fitness for office after the 78-year-old Republican’s latest televised town hall veered into a surreal, impromptu music session.
“Hope he’s okay,” the Democratic candidate posted on X.
Harris’s campaign, which has begun to aggressively challenge Trump on his health and mental stability, said that he appeared “lost, confused, and frozen on stage” during the Monday event.
Former president Trump defended the event in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, saying it was “so different.”
“It was amazing! The Q and A was almost finished when people began fainting from the excitement and heat,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
“We started playing music while we waited, and just kept it going. So different, but it ended up being a GREAT EVENING!“
He hit out at Vice President Harris, who released a White House medical report at the weekend that said she was fit for the highest office and challenged Trump to do the same.
“With all of the problems that she has, there is a real question as to whether or not she should be running for President! MY REPORT IS PERFECT — NO PROBLEMS!!!” Trump wrote.
For about half an hour, the event in Oaks near Philadelphia was standard fare ahead of the November 5 election, as Trump took friendly questions from supporters on the economy and cost of living.
But it ended with a bizarre 39 minutes of music and dancing as Trump swayed awkwardly on stage following interruptions because of medical emergencies in the crowd.
“Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?” he said.
Trump has made a brief, jerky dance his signature at the end of rallies for years, nearly always to his exit song — the Village People’s 1978 disco anthem “YMCA.”
On Monday, however, he stayed on stage for nine songs, ranging from opera to Guns N’ Roses and Elvis, with the ex-president alternating his dance moves with standing in place and staring into the crowd.
Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat, according to polls, and the election is set to be decided by seven swing states where the margins could come down to barely 10,000 votes each.
With only three weeks to go, the 59-year-old Democrat has increasingly been homing in on Trump’s health and age.
It was the topic of her closing argument as she sat down with popular radio host Charlamagne tha God in an effort to boost her messaging to Black male voters — a part of the electorate where Trump has made gains.
After setting out her policies for improving the lives of Black men, she turned to Trump’s rallies and repeated a claim that riled him during their September debate — that bored supporters were leaving his rallies early.
“I will point out what everyone knows, which is that the people who worked the closest with Donald Trump when he was president — worked with him in the Oval Office, saw him at play in the Situation Room, his chief of staff, two secretaries of defense, his national security adviser and his former vice president — have all said he is dangerous and unfit to serve,” Harris said.
Trump’s own campaign schedule began with an Economic Club of Chicago event, where he said he was for slapping “obnoxious” tariffs on trading partners like Mexico so that companies move factories to the US.
“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” Trump said, before heading for a rally in swing-state Georgia.
Trump is now the oldest person ever to be nominated for a presidential bid, after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate that sparked fears about his own age.
He has not released a recent comprehensive report on his state of health, prompting fierce criticism from Harris.
Assault against rabbi in Maryland probed as hate crime, police says
- The suspect was charged with felony assault and related crimes, police said, adding that the victim, who was not identified, suffered minor injuries
WASHINGTON: Police in Maryland said on Tuesday that an assault against a rabbi who was attacked with a wooden stake was being probed as a hate crime and a suspect was arrested.
The incident took place in Silver Spring in Maryland.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Rights advocates have noted rising threats against American Muslims, Arabs and Jews since the eruption of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon following an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants.
Some recent incidents that have raised alarm over antisemitism include threats of violence against Jews at Cornell University that led to a conviction and sentencing, an unsuccessful plot to attack a New York City Jewish center and a physical assault against a Jewish man in Michigan.
KEY QUOTE
“For unknown reasons, the male suspect, identified as 47-year-old Junior Michael Reece, swung a wooden stake at the victim, striking him,” Montgomery County Police Department said in a statement. “This incident is being investigated as a hate crime.”
The suspect was charged with felony assault and related crimes, police said, adding that the victim, who was not identified, suffered minor injuries.
CONTEXT
Other recent violent US incidents with Muslim and Arab victims include the attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Muslim girl in Texas, the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois, the stabbing of a Muslim man in Texas, the beating of a Muslim man in New York and a violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California.
