The European Patent Office has declared an mRNA patent of the US biotech company BioNTech invalid in the patent dispute between the two corona vaccine manufacturers BioNTech and Moderna. This decision was met with mixed reactions from both companies, with Moderna announcing on Tuesday that it would appeal against this decision.
“Moderna disagrees with the European Patent Office’s decision regarding the ‘565 patent,'” the company stated. “We remain convinced of the validity of the patent.” Despite this, Moderna shares fell more than two percent in premarket trading on Wall Street.
On the other hand, BioNTech welcomed the decision: “We believe that this and other Moderna patents do not meet the requirements for grant and should never have been granted,” said a spokesperson for BioNTech. The European Patent Office is yet to publish its written decision on the matter, which is expected to be published in either weeks or months to come.
The ongoing patent dispute between BioNTech and Moderna has been brewing for some time now, with both companies accusing each other of violating their respective patents for Covid-19 vaccines. In addition to this, CureVac, a Tübingen rival of Biontech, has also filed a lawsuit against Biontech because he sees his patents infringed by Biontech’s successful Covid-19 vaccine. However, both Biontech and Pfizer have rejected these allegations and filed a countersuit against them.