Intellectual property expert Charlie French has has been quoted in the Financial Times’ article “Covid vaccine makers to clash in London over mRNA patent dispute” and Law360’s article “Pfizer, Moderna Set To Tee Off Over COVID-19 Vaccine Patents.”

Both articles discuss the High Court trial of the patent litigation between Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech regarding Modern’s mRNA patents and Pfizer / BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty. The Financial Times’ article states: ‘The trial will help determine who pioneered the technology behind the coronavirus vaccines that saved millions of lives in the pandemic. Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech were three of the biggest corporate winners from the pandemic, with their jabs the widest used across the world.’

Charlie commented in the Financial Times’ article that “one of the disputed patents is specific to respiratory virus vaccines based on mRNA technology. The other is more “foundational” for how mRNA treatments are delivered” and suggested that the implications of the litigation could potentially be much broader than Covid vaccines.

Charlie also commented “It’s not an easy case for Moderna but the potential upside is huge given Comirnaty’s historic sales — $37.8 billion in 2022” in the Law360 piece.

To read both articles, see the Financial Times website (subscription required) and Law360 website (subscription required).