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Pfizer, BioNTech ask UK court to overturn Moderna's COVID vaccine patent win
- 7/10/2025
LONDON (Reuters) -Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech asked London's Court of Appeal on Thursday to overturn a ruling that their COVID-19 vaccine infringed one of Moderna's patents, in the latest round of a long-running legal dispute between the two sides.
A year ago, the High Court ruled that one of Moderna's two patents relating to the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology that underpinned its COVID-19 vaccine was valid and that Pfizer and BioNTech's Comirnaty vaccine had infringed it, meaning Moderna is entitled to damages in relation to sales after March 2022.
The court also ruled last July that the other Moderna patent under challenge in the case was invalid.
Pfizer and Moderna are seeking to overturn the decision that one of the patents is valid, after Judge Richard Meade gave the two companies permission to appeal against his decision.
They argue Moderna's developments of mRNA technology were obvious developments of previous work, rendering the patent invalid, though Moderna says the judge's ruling should be upheld.
Pfizer and BioNTech generated more than $3.3 billion in revenue from global sales of their vaccine Comirnaty last year, while Moderna generated $3.2 billion from its vaccine Spikevax, according to company reports. Sales of both vaccines declined significantly between 2023 and 2024 after the pandemic ended.
Pfizer and BioNTech had sued Moderna in London in September 2022, seeking to revoke the two patents held by Moderna, which hit back days later alleging its own patents had been infringed.
The London lawsuits are just one part of a global battle between Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna over their competing vaccines, which helped save millions of lives during the pandemic.
The companies have also been involved in proceedings in Germany – where a court ruled in Moderna's favour in March – the United States Patent Office, which held that two Moderna COVID-19 vaccine patents were invalid, and elsewhere.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Susan Fenton)