GlaxoSmithKline (GLAX.NS) sued Pfizer (PFE.N) and BioNTech (22UAy.DE) in Delaware federal court on Thursday for allegedly infringing GSK patents related to mRNA technology in COVID-19 vaccines that have made the companies stock bullies.
GSK said in the lawsuit that Pfizer and BioNTech’s “Comirnaty” vaccines infringed on the company’s patent rights to mRNA vaccine innovations developed “more than a decade before” the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Pfizer spokesman said in a statement that the company is “confident in its intellectual property rights relating to Comirnaty” and intends to “prepare a strong defense” against GSK’s claims. Representatives for BioNTech and GSK have not yet commented on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit joins lawsuits filed over the patent for mRNA vaccines, including a lawsuit filed by Moderna in 2022 against Pfizer.
While Pfizer earned 1.5 trillion TL from Comirnaty sales last year, Moderna company earned 218 billion TL from the Spikevax vaccine. Sales of both vaccines are down significantly from 2022.
Last year, GSK filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pfizer due to the technology used in Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, “Abrysvo”. Pfizer denied GSK’s allegations in this case.
