CureVac files Comirnaty patent infringement lawsuit in Germany

Germany’s CureVac (Nasdaq: CVAC) is the latest biopharma company seeking to get a share of the very large profits being made by the most successful COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

CureVac today announced that it has moved to assert its intellectual property rights, accumulated over more than two decades of pioneering work in mRNA technology, which contributed to COVID-19 vaccine development. CureVac has filed a lawsuit in the German Regional Court in Düsseldorf against BioNTech (Nasdaq: BNTX) and two of its subsidiaries, seeking fair compensation for infringement of a portfolio of CureVac's intellectual property rights, EP 1 857 122 B1, DE 20 2015 009 961 U1.

DE 20 2021 003 575 U1 and DE 20 2015 009 974 U1, utilized in the manufacture and sale of Comirnaty, BioNTech and Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. CureVac does not seek an injunction nor intend to take legal action that impedes the production, sale or distribution of Comirnaty by BioNTech and its partner Pfizer, which pulled in sales of $36.8 billion from the vaccine last year for the latter. BioNTech recognized 1,163 million euros ($1,212  million) of direct COVID-19 vaccine sales to customers in BioNTech’s territory, Germany and Turkey, as well as 603 million euros sales of products manufactured by BioNTech for its collaboration partners in the first quarter this year.