German Court Nullifies CureVac’s Patent Case Against BioNTech

Pictured: A CureVac sign in front of building/Bernd Weissbrod/picture alliance via Getty Images

Biopharma CureVac had a setback on Tuesday in its patent case against BioNTech. The company announced that the German Federal Patent Court granted a “nullity action” filed by BioNTech against CureVac’s patent for COVID-19 vaccines.

CureVac’s stock price was down 29% on Tuesday in response to the news.

CureVac filed a suit against BioNTech last year seeking compensation for alleged infringement of its intellectual property rights related to the technology used to produce the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. At the time, BioNTech said it would defend itself “vigorously” against the allegations.

In Tuesday’s announcement, CureVac said it will carry its appeal to the German Federal Court of Justice.

CureVac noted that the ruling is part of a “first decision” concerning the validity of the patent litigation against BioNTech, which involves eight total CureVac intellectual property rights, the company contends. The court proceedings involving the other seven patent rights will continue and be decided individually.

The company also noted that following the decision on Tuesday, a ruling on infringement scheduled for Dec. 28 in Germany's Regional Court Dusseldorf will likely be delayed.

“We consider the patent court’s decision unfortunate also given the positive preliminary opinion on EP 1 857 122 B1 the court provided earlier this year. The decision is only one of many that will be made regarding using CureVac’s intellectual property in the development of Comirnaty. We remain highly confident that our pioneering role in mRNA technology and continuing innovation in the field made essential contributions to safe and productive COVID-19 vaccines,” CureVac CEO Alexander Zehnder said in a statement.  

The biopharma’s vaccine, which was mRNA-based, was pulled from regulatory review in 2021 as it chose to focus on a second-generation vaccine. Although CureVac launched a suit against BioNTech last year, it did not file an injunction or take any actions that would impede the vaccine’s production or distribution.

CureVac has partnered with GSK on COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccines. The joint COVID-19 development program completed its Phase II recruitment and started dosing in August 2023.

Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.