Judge Allows Monsanto Patent Lawsuits Against Vaccine Makers

A federal judge in Delaware declined to dismiss patent lawsuits filed by Monsanto, a unit of Bayer, against Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna. The lawsuits, initiated in January, allege that the vaccine manufacturers used messenger RNA technology developed by Monsanto in the 1980s to stabilize genetic material in their COVID-19 vaccines.

The defendants sought to have the cases dismissed, arguing that their specific manufacturing processes differed from the technology developed by Bayer. Moderna further contended that the patent in question covered an unpatentable law of nature.

US Circuit Judge William Bryson ruled that the vaccine manufacturers failed to demonstrate at this early stage of the litigation that the patent was invalid or that their products did not infringe upon it. The ruling allows the legal challenge to proceed toward trial.