FRANKFURT (Reuters) – COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech said on Tuesday the European Patent Office has declared as invalid an mRNA patent that has been invoked by Moderna in litigation about alleged an patent violation by BioNTech and its partner Pfizer.
“We understand and welcome the European Patent Office’s decision to revoke Moderna’s European Patent 3 718 565 B1,” the German biotech firm said in a statement.
“The European Patent Office’s decision is an important one as we believe that this and others of Moderna’s patents do not meet the requirements for grant and should never have been granted,” it added.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Matthias Williams)
