GlaxoSmithKline sues Pfizer and BioNTech over Covid-19 vaccine technology (updated)

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals

25/04/2024 14:54

(Adds Pfizer comment in paragraph 3, context in paragraphs 4-6)
    By Blake Brittain
       April 25 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline  GLAX.NS  sued
Pfizer  PFE.N  and BioNTech  22UAy.DE  in Delaware federal court
on Thursday, accusing them of infringing GSK patents related to
messenger RNA (mRNA) technology in the companies' blockbuster
COVID-19 vaccines.
    GSK said in the lawsuit that Pfizer and BioNTech's Comirnaty
vaccines violate the company's patent rights in mRNA-vaccine
innovations developed "more than a decade before" the outbreak
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    A Pfizer spokesperson said in a statement that the company
is "confident in our IP position around Comirnaty" and intends
to "vigorously defend" against GSK's claims. Representatives for
BioNTech and GSK did not immediately respond to requests for
comment on the lawsuit.
        The lawsuit adds to a web of high-stakes U.S. court
cases involving Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna over patent
royalties for technology used in their vaccines, including a 
    case brought by Moderna against Pfizer
     in 2022.
  
        Pfizer made $11.2 billion from sales of Comirnaty last
year, while Moderna earned $6.7 billion in revenue from its
vaccine Spikevax. Sales of both vaccines declined significantly
last year from 2022.
  
        GSK also 
    sued Pfizer
     for patent infringement last year over technology used in
Pfizer's respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Abrysvo.
Pfizer has denied GSK's claims in that case.
  

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain
Editing by David Bario and Chizu Nomiyama)
 ((blake.brittain@thomsonreuters.com))