British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has filed a lawsuit against US drug company Moderna, accusing it of infringing its patent rights to the mRNA technology used to develop the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and RSV vaccines.
GSK filed two lawsuits this week in federal court in Delaware, one against Spikevax and one against mResvia. The lawsuit alleges that Moderna infringed the company’s patents on lipid mRNA vaccine technology.
According to the lawsuit, Christian Mandl and his team of scientists developed a novel lipid-mRNA formulation and method for its preparation in 2008.
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Years later, Mandl and his team were employed by Novartis AG when they began working on developing an mRNA vaccine, according to the lawsuit. GSK acquired the majority of Novartis’ vaccine business in 2015. The acquisition included all rights to Mandl and his team’s inventions and patents.
GSK claims that Moderna did not begin developing an mRNA vaccine until Mandl’s research became public, and has cited Mandl’s patents in its own patent applications since at least 2013.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages, and GSK is requesting a jury trial.
Ironically, Moderna sued Pfizer and German drugmaker BioNTech in 2022 for copying its technology to produce a COVID-19 vaccine.
