Posts Tagged: "Patent pledge"

As Pfizer and BioNTech announced this week that results of their COVID-19 vaccine have exceeded expectations, the technology behind the vaccine (messenger RNA, or mRNA) has taken center stage. Last month, Moderna Therapeutics, one of the global leaders in the race to produce a COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA, made the following statement regarding enforcement of its patents: “We feel a special obligation under the current circumstances to use our resources to bring this pandemic to an end as quickly as possible. Accordingly, while the pandemic continues, Moderna will not enforce our COVID-19 related patents against those making vaccines intended to combat the pandemic. Further, to eliminate any perceived IP barriers to vaccine development during the pandemic period, upon request we are also willing to license our intellectual property for COVID-19 vaccines to others for the post pandemic period.” This post examines why Moderna made this patent pledge by examining its mRNA technology, go-to-market status, patent landscape, and market position.