Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech over COVID vaccine

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FILE - A man stands outside an entrance to a Moderna, Inc., building, Monday, May 18, 2020, in Cambridge, Mass. A second COVID-19 vaccine moved closer to joining the U.S. fight against the pandemic Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020 as government experts convened for a final public review of its safety and effectiveness. The shot from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health is urgently needed as the country continues to record ever-higher numbers of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths ahead of more holiday travel and family gatherings. FDA's OK is expected shortly after the all-day meeting concludes. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, file)

Moderna is suing Pfizer and BioNTech for infringing patents central to Moderna’s mRNA technology platform used to develop the COVID vaccine, the company said in a press release Friday.

Moderna said they believe that Pfizer and BioNTech copied their technology, without their permission, to make Comirnaty.

“When COVID-19 emerged, neither Pfizer nor BioNTech had Moderna’s level of experience with developing mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases, and they knowingly followed Moderna’s lead in developing their own vaccine,” read the release.

“We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Moderna chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel.”This foundational platform, which we began building in 2010, along with our patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, enabled us to produce a safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time after the pandemic struck.

The company said they are not looking to remove Comirnaty from the market.

ABC News contributed to this article.

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