The US biotech company Moderna has announced its intention to appeal a decision by the European Patent Office to declare an mRNA patent of BioNTech, a German biotech firm, invalid. The dispute between the two companies involves patents related to Covid-19 vaccines.
Moderna stated in a press release that it disagrees with the EPO’s ruling on the ‘565 patent’ and remains confident in its validity. Its shares fell more than 2% in premarket trading on Wall Street. In contrast, BioNTech welcomed the decision and believes that Moderna’s patents do not meet the requirements for granting and should never have been granted.
The EPO is expected to publish its written decision on the matter in the coming weeks or months. Moderna had filed a lawsuit against BioNTech and Pfizer, another partner of BioNTech, alleging that their Covid-19 vaccine violated patents registered before the pandemic. CureVac, a German rival of Moderna, has also filed a lawsuit against BioNTech for infringement of its patents related to Covid-19 vaccines. Both companies rejected these allegations and filed countersuits. (Reuters)