Covid vaccine patent fight finally ends: Pfizer-BioNTech to pay CureVac and GSK US$740m plus US sales royalties
The royalties would amount to a 'single-digit' percentage on sales of Covid-19 vaccines in the United States, CureVac said.
The German firm added that it would grant Pfizer and BioNTech non-exclusive licence to make and sell mRNA-based Covid and flu products in the United States.
GSK, which since 2020 has worked with CureVac to develop mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases, said that it would receive US$370 million as well as a one-per cent royalty on US sales of flu, Covid and 'related combination mRNA vaccine products'.
CureVac sued German rival BioNTech in 2022, arguing that BioNTech had infringed patents relating to mRNA technology in making its blockbuster Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine in colloboration with Pfizer.
Unlike traditional vaccines which contain some form of the dead or inactivated target virus,mRNA vaccines contain genetic materials that instruct human cells to make proteins typical of the targeted virus.
Since the virus need not be grown in the lab, mRNA vaccines can in theory be developed at scale more quickly than conventional vaccines.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first mRNA vaccine approved for use and the first Covid vaccine to receive approval in the West.
CureVac's own efforts to make an mRNA-based covid vaccine during the pandemic did not come to fruition.
The deal brings the dispute between CureVac and BionNTech to an end ahead of the planned acquisition of CureVac by BioNTech, announced in June.
CureVac and BioNTech are still locked in legal disputes in Germany but CureVac said the deal 'set a framework for resolving ongoing patent disputes outside the US'.
In March, a German court sided with American pharmaceutical firm Moderna in its claim that BioNTech and Pfizer had broken one of its patents in making its Covid-19 vaccine. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
12 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Covid vaccine patent fight finally ends: Pfizer-BioNTech to pay CureVac and GSK US$740m plus US sales royalties
FRANKFURT, Aug 8 — American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech will pay Britain's GSK and Germany's CureVac US$740 million plus royalties to settle US legal disputes over Covid-19 vaccines, CureVac said Friday. The royalties would amount to a 'single-digit' percentage on sales of Covid-19 vaccines in the United States, CureVac said. The German firm added that it would grant Pfizer and BioNTech non-exclusive licence to make and sell mRNA-based Covid and flu products in the United States. GSK, which since 2020 has worked with CureVac to develop mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases, said that it would receive US$370 million as well as a one-per cent royalty on US sales of flu, Covid and 'related combination mRNA vaccine products'. CureVac sued German rival BioNTech in 2022, arguing that BioNTech had infringed patents relating to mRNA technology in making its blockbuster Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine in colloboration with Pfizer. Unlike traditional vaccines which contain some form of the dead or inactivated target virus,mRNA vaccines contain genetic materials that instruct human cells to make proteins typical of the targeted virus. Since the virus need not be grown in the lab, mRNA vaccines can in theory be developed at scale more quickly than conventional vaccines. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first mRNA vaccine approved for use and the first Covid vaccine to receive approval in the West. CureVac's own efforts to make an mRNA-based covid vaccine during the pandemic did not come to fruition. The deal brings the dispute between CureVac and BionNTech to an end ahead of the planned acquisition of CureVac by BioNTech, announced in June. CureVac and BioNTech are still locked in legal disputes in Germany but CureVac said the deal 'set a framework for resolving ongoing patent disputes outside the US'. In March, a German court sided with American pharmaceutical firm Moderna in its claim that BioNTech and Pfizer had broken one of its patents in making its Covid-19 vaccine. — AFP
Free Malaysia Today
12 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
SpaceX agrees to take Italian experiments to Mars
The 123m-tall Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket. (EPA Images pic) WASHINGTON : Elon Musk's SpaceX has agreed to carry Italian experiments on its Starship megarocket during planned future missions to Mars, according to a new deal announced on Thursday. 'Italy is going to Mars!' Italian Space Agency president Teodoro Valente said on X, adding that the scientific experiments would fly on the first Starship trips to the red planet that have customers. Musk dreams of colonising Mars using Starship, however the massive rocket has suffered several setbacks after recent tests ended in spectacular explosions. Still, the world's richest man – who is known for his aggressively optimistic timelines – maintains that the first Starship launches will take place next year. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell also announced the 'first-of-its-kind' deal with the Italian Space Agency, saying that there was 'more to come'. 'Get on board! We are going to Mars! SpaceX is now offering Starship services to the red planet,' she posted on X, formerly Twitter. Musk – the world's richest man and a former close advisor to US President Donald Trump – has cultivated close ties with Italy's hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. A proposed cybersecurity deal between the Italian government and Musk's satellite company Starlink was heavily criticised by opposition parties in Italy earlier this year. In June, a SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test, resulting in the complete loss of the vessel. Standing 403 feet (123m) tall, Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket and is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tonnes.
Free Malaysia Today
12 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Tesla shuts down Dojo supercomputer team, reassigns workers amid AI shift
Over the past year, Tesla, amid a company-wide restructuring, has seen multiple executive departures and thousands of job cuts. (Unsplash pic) TEXAS : Tesla CEO Elon Musk has ordered to shut down its Dojo supercomputer team, with team leader Peter Bannon departing the company, Bloomberg News reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Dojo supercomputer was designed around custom training chips to process vast amounts of data and video from Tesla EVs to train the automaker's autonomous-driving software. Tesla did not reply to a Reuters request for comment. CEO Elon Musk said on X that it didn't make sense for Tesla to divide its resources and scale two different AI chips. Over the past year, Tesla, amid a company-wide restructuring, has seen multiple executive departures and thousands of job cuts. The company has redirected its focus to AI-driven self-driving technology and robotics, with CEO Elon Musk pursuing an integration strategy across his business empire. In March, xAI acquired the social media platform X for US$33 billion to bolster its chatbot training capabilities, while Tesla integrated the Grok chatbot into its vehicles. The automaker also plans to increase its reliance on external technology partners such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices for compute, and Samsung Electronics for chip manufacturing, as per the Bloomberg report. Last month, Samsung secured a US$16.5 billion deal to supply AI chips to Tesla, expected to power self-driving cars, humanoid robots and data centres. Tesla CEO Elon Musk earlier said that Samsung's new chip factory in Taylor, Texas would make Tesla's next-generation AI6 chip. While no timeline was provided for AI6 chip production, Musk has previously said that next-generation AI5 chips will be produced at the end of 2026, suggesting AI6 would follow. 'The Tesla AI5, AI6 and subsequent chips will be excellent for inference and at least pretty good for training. 'All effort is focused on that,' Musk said in an X post late yesterday. Musk also said that in a supercomputer cluster, it would make sense to put many AI5/AI6 chips. 'One could call that Dojo 3, I suppose,' he said. 'The Dojo team recently lost about 20 workers to newly formed DensityAI, and the remaining workers are being reassigned to other data centre and compute projects within Tesla,' the Bloomberg report said. Nvidia declined to comment on the Bloomberg report, while AMD and Samsung did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
