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CureVac sues BioNtech over COVID vaccine

July 5, 2022

The two German vaccine competitors are heading to court over a legal dispute concerning BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine. CureVac has called for "fair compensation."

https://p.dw.com/p/4Dh81
A syringe
The two German firms are now locked in a legal dispute over the mRNA technology that BioNTech used to create its coronavirus vaccineImage: Fleig/Eibner-Pressefoto/picture alliance

German pharmaceutical firm CureVac announced on Tuesday that it is suing fellow German competitor BioNTech over the latter's vaccine against COVID-19.

It's one of the first known cases of a pharmaceutical company taking another to court over the heated race to develop a coronavirus vaccine that could curb deaths and hospitalizations during the pandemic.

Why is CureVac suing?

In a statement, Tübingen-based CureVac said the company "will assert its intellectual property rights from more than two decades of pioneering mRNA technology that contributed to the development of COVID-19 vaccines."

It is suing Mainz-based firm BioNTech, as well as two subsidiaries, for alleged infringements involving four patents.

The case, which has been filed at the regional court in the western city of Düsseldorf, must clarify how much of the patents were used in the development of the BioNTech-Pfizer jab.

Specifically, the alleged infringements concern the technical production of mRNA molecules, as well as the mRNA vaccine formulation needed to specifically treat infections caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In a statement, CureVac called for "fair compensation" from its competitor. The company also said that it is not planning any legal steps that would hinder the production, sale or distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.

BioNTech did not immediately react to the suit.

How the mRNA vaccine against COVID works

The fierce race to produce COVID jabs

Together with US pharma giant Pfizer, BioNTech produced the first mRNA vaccine against coronavirus with a high rate of effectiveness.

Many other types of vaccines use a weakened or inactivated version of the virus, but its vaccine uses messenger RNA to teach cells how to produce a protein that triggers an immune response in our bodies.

The jab, called Comirnaty, has been used around the globe to protect people from contracting severe cases of the virus. Moderna has also used mRNA technology to create its jab against the coronavirus.

In the early stages of the pandemic, CureVac also worked to create a vaccine — but it failed to achieve the desired results, coming it at only 47% effective, compared to BioNTech-Pfizer's 94.6% effectiveness rate.

rs/rt (dpa, Reuters)