Pfizer-BioNTech and Regeneron Sued Over Unauthorized Use of Patented Technology to Develop COVID-19 Vaccines

Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (San Diego, CA, USA) has filed two patent infringement lawsuits - one against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Tarrytown, NY, USA) and the other against Pfizer Inc. (New York, NY, USA) and Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech Mainz, Germany). Both complaints address the infringement of Allele’s patented mNeonGreen technology, an important reagent used in the development of therapeutics for COVID-19.

According to Allele, the company’s mNeonGreen protein is considered the world’s brightest monomeric fluorescent protein, and the technology behind that protein was patented in 2019. Allele claims that prominent scientific journals have touted the use of mNeonGreen as the “gold standard” for use in assays testing neutralizing antibody and vaccine candidates. Hundreds of organizations and universities have active licenses to use Allele’s mNeonGreen technology.


However, Regeneron, Pfizer, and BioNTech used mNeonGreen commercially without authorization from Allele, stated the company in its press release. According to the complaint, Allele reached out to Regeneron on multiple occasions to negotiate a license on reasonable terms, but all of its requests went unanswered. In fact, no defendant sought any permission in advance of using mNeonGreen to obtain breakthrough successes in developing and testing their vaccines.

“I am pleased that mNeonGreen has played a pivotal role in the fight against COVID-19. In no way does Allele want to prohibit, or slow down development of vaccines or therapeutics discovered using this technology,” said Dr. Jiwu Wang, Founder and CEO of Allele. “Our goal is to have these companies recognize, as many others have before them, the hard work that went in to developing this technology and to respect our intellectual property.”

“The purpose of these lawsuits is to maintain Allele's patent rights and to ensure that an agreement can be put in place to protect the rights of current and future licensees,” said Dan Catron, Executive Director, Licensing and Business Development for Allele.


Related Links:
Pfizer Inc.
Biopharmaceutical New Technologies
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Inc.