Moderna has announced that it will be suing Pfizer and BioNTech for allegedly infringing on the patent on its MRNA technology used in its COVID vaccines. Moderna insists its filing will not be removing vaccines from the public but is intended to protect its patented innovation.

Opening Bell

Moderna Suing Pfizer and BioNTech Over COVID Vaccine Patent Infringement

all right. We have to get to some breaking news this morning this coming out just a short while ago. Covid vaccine maker Moderna says it will sue Pfizer and biontech for copying the M. R. N. A. Technology used in both Covid vaccines. Moderna is seeking damages from the biotech arrival for allegedly infringing on several of its patents covering messenger RNA vaccine technology. Moderna says it will not be looking to block the fighter and via contact vaccine from being sold or administered. We have a statement here from the Moderna Ceo Stefan bank Well and he says, quote, we are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative, innovative M. RNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating and patented during the decade preceding the covid 19 pandemic. This obviously a major story has these, these stocks moving as a result of I wonder given the unique circumstances of COVID-19, how elevated the fear and concern was around the pandemic and finding a cure and a vaccine. If there will be any caveats in the legal system to protect potentially if in fact these are true, this is the allegation right now. But if in fact this is true to protect biontech and moderna because at that point in time there was just a race to get as many people vaccinated as possible to save as many lives as possible. So that may be just the thing that they need to say, hey, we were just scrambling to get people safe and so maybe it will protect them. Maybe it was because at the end of the day, they still allegedly copied this, you know, and patent infringement is very, very, uh, very important. And obviously the law takes that into account here in the US pretty strictly. But again, these were unprecedented times. So I imagine that is potentially if in fact this was a cop being an infringement that may be an argument in court. And I don't know that we've ever had some like that historically have historical reference to. So maybe it takes this makes president, I don't know if it makes you think, what proof do they have? Like did someone that worked at one company transfer over to that company and took information with them? Because they could say, oh well we discovered it on our own. You know, we just messed around as scientists and did it. So it'll be interesting to follow the story and see how it all pans out. This will be a big one that will continue to follow. For sure.