American biotech company Moderna announced that it will file a complaint against Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement on its messenger RNA vaccine against Covid-19.
(Vaccine that would protect against multiple coronaviruses, in the experimental phase).
“Moderna is convinced that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine infringes patents filed by Moderna between 2010 and 2016, which cover Moderna’s core messenger RNA technology.“, the company said in a statement.
Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech were the first companies in the sector to manufacture coronavirus vaccines, very shortly after the start of the pandemic, thanks to the messenger RNA technologywhich allows ordering human cells to manufacture proteins present in the virus to accustom the immune system to recognize and neutralize it.
(The University of Córdoba will have a laboratory for the creation of vaccines).
Until then, vaccines were based on weakened or inactivated forms of the virus to train the body to defend itselfand the development of remedies, as well as clinical trials to verify their safety, could take several years.
The use of messenger RNA technology in Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, among the most injected in the world, was the culmination of four decades of research that has overcome numerous obstacles.
(Colombia, the country in Latin America that has best managed the pandemic).
“This innovative technology was crucial to the development of Moderna’s own messenger RNA vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to manufacture Comirnaty,” Moderna’s statement added.
AFP