On August 26, Moderna issued a press release announcing it will be filing suit against Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement. Both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech sell Covid-19 vaccines that is based upon mRNA technology. Moderna is accusing Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, Comrinaty®, of infringing Moderna’s patents covering certain features of Moderna’s mRNA technology. (At the time of publishing this post, Moderna’s complaint had not yet been filed. Once the complaint is filed, I will update the post.)

As I previously blogged here and here, Moderna has been tagged with two patent-infringement lawsuits directed to its LNP technology for delivering its mRNA vaccine for Covid. Moderna has now lodged its first defense two each suit—and in each case, it’s the same. Moderna claims that both plaintiffs, including Arbutus/Genevant and Alnylam, have each sued the wrong party. Moderna contracted with the U.S. Government to provide the vaccine, and pursuant to that contract, Moderna claims that the Government agreed to bear the brunt of any residual patent liability. Will the Government have to pick up the tab for Moderna’s patent infringement?

Moderna faces a new patent lawsuit related to its Covid vaccine. On March 17, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals commenced two separate patent lawsuits—one against Moderna and another against Pfizer. Both suits claim that the Covid manufacturers’ vaccines are infringing a patent owned by Alnylam. So what are Alnylam’s lawsuits all about?