On Friday, Moderna announced that it was suing Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement related to mRNA technology used in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
According to a press release from the Cambridge, Massachusetts firm Moderna, Pfizer-Comirnaty BioNTech’s vaccine infringes on patents Moderna filed for between 2010 and 2016.
The COVID-19 pill Paxlovid from Pfizer appears to provide little or no benefit for some adults, while reducing the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk seniors, according to a large study published on Wednesday.
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As the go-to treatment for COVID-19 due to its at-home convenience, the results from a 109,000-patient Israeli study are likely to renew questions about its use by the U.S. government. As part of its “test-and-treat” program, the Biden administration has spent over $10 billion on the drug and made it available at thousands of pharmacies.
When administered soon after infection, Paxlovid significantly reduced hospitalizations for people aged 65 and up by about 75%, according to the study. However, the analysis of medical records showed no significant benefit for people aged 40–65.
Pfizer’s official response to the findings, which were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, was muted.
According to Moderna’s chief legal officer Shannon Thyme Klinger, “we believe that Pfizer and BioNTech unlawfully copied Moderna’s inventions and they have continued to use them without permission.”
Two of Moderna’s patents, the company claims, are “critical to the success of mRNA vaccines,” and Pfizer and BioNtech have copied them, the company claims.
The companies, according to Pfizer spokeswoman Jerica Pitts, are “surprised by the litigation” and intend to “vigorously defend against the allegations in the lawsuit.” She explained that the secret to BioNTech’s success with their COVID-19 vaccine was their use of mRNA.
Although Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as a politically divisive and reassuring voice during the pandemic, will be retiring from public service in December, he still has much to say.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to Vice President Joe Biden told USA TODAY in a wide-ranging interview that just because the world is opening up again doesn’t mean the pandemic is over.
When discussing the “new normal,” Fauci argues that “Coviridae” should take center stage. “The emergence of infectious diseases occurs more frequently than most people realize. Many of them have negligible effects on the world stage.
Dr. Fauci has dedicated his life to learning about new viruses and directing the United States’ response to public health emergencies like the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 1980s and the West Nile virus outbreak of recent years.
Could SARS coronavirus type 2 (COV-2), the virus that causes Coviellopulmonary syndrome, be completely eradicated? To put it plainly, “no,” says Fauci. As the saying goes, “smallpox is the only major virus we haven’t eradicated off the face of the earth.”
According to Fauci, widespread immunization is America’s strongest defense against the COVID-19 pandemic.
