New Delhi: Biotech firm Alnylam Prescribed drugs Inc filed new lawsuits on Friday towards Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc in Delaware federal courtroom, once more claiming that the businesses’ COVID-19 vaccines infringe its patents.
The brand new lawsuits mark the third time Alnylam has sued Pfizer and Moderna in Delaware for allegedly violating its patent rights in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) expertise, which the vaccines use to ship genetic materials into the physique.
Alnylam is once more looking for an unspecified share of royalties from the businesses’ vaccine gross sales. Pfizer earned $37.8 billion from gross sales of its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty final 12 months, whereas Moderna made $18.4 billion from its vaccine Spikevax.
Representatives for Alnylam, Moderna and Pfizer didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the brand new lawsuits. Moderna and Pfizer have denied the allegations within the earlier instances and argued that Alnylam’s patents are invalid.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Alnylam first sued Moderna and Pfizer final March. It filed one other pair of complaints final July over an extra LNP patent, which have been later consolidated with its earlier lawsuits.
The lawsuits filed Friday embrace 4 new infringement claims towards Pfizer and three towards Moderna.
The complaints are a part of a wave of patent lawsuits filed by biotech firms over COVID-19 vaccines, together with a case introduced by Moderna towards Pfizer final 12 months in Massachusetts.
Alnylam informed the Delaware courtroom that it pioneered LNP expertise “important” to the mRNA-based vaccines greater than a decade in the past. It additionally mentioned it gave Moderna confidential details about the expertise in 2014 throughout discussions a couple of potential collaboration.
The instances are Alnylam Prescribed drugs Inc v. Moderna Inc, U.S. District Court docket for the District of Delaware, No. 1:23-cv-00580 and Alnylam Prescribed drugs Inc v. Pfizer Inc, U.S. District Court docket for the District of Delaware, No. 1:23-cv-00578.
