CureVac expands scope of ongoing patent litigations

CureVac announced that it has strengthened its position in the ongoing patent litigations with Pfizer/BioNTech in Germany and the U.S. by expanding the scope of both cases by asserting new intellectual property rights. Patent litigation in Germany, originally filed by CureVac regarding four of its intellectual property rights in June 2022, was strengthened by the addition of a fifth intellectual property right as announced in May 2023.These five intellectual property rights have now been extended by three more recent intellectual property rights: DE202021004123U1 and DE202021004130U1, providing protection to COVID-19 variant adapted vaccines, including the Omicron and XBB1.5 variants and EP4023755, relating to split poly A tail mRNA vaccines. In May 2023, CureVac filed a counterclaim in the U.S. that alleges infringement of nine U.S. patents, expanding the scope of the case beyond the three patents originally named by Pfizer/BioNTech. These nine patents have now been extended by a tenth patent, which relates to mRNA purification methods, a critical part of the overall mRNA manufacturing process. CureVac filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against BioNTech in early June 2022. A first public hearing on this lawsuit will take place on August 15, 2023, before the Regional Court Dusseldorf. A nullity action covering one of the patents at issue was filed by Pfizer/BioNTech in September 2022. A preliminary opinion issued in April 2023 by the German Federal Patent Court supports the validity of the CureVac patent. In the U.S., Pfizer/BioNTech filed its case in late July 2022, asking for confirmation that Comirnaty does not infringe three CureVac patents. These patents are included in the ten U.S. patents of CureVac’s counter claim: 11,135,312; 11,149,278; 11,286,492; 11,345,920; 10,760,070; 11,241,493; 11,471,525; 11,576,966; 11,596,686 and 11,667,910