Pfizer was originally sued by Moderna in August, accusing the corporation of infringing its rights in three patents related to technologies that Moderna said it pioneered prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moderna has also launched a parallel claim in Germany against Pfizer and BioNTech. All three firms are also involved in vaccination patent issues with other corporations in the United States.

In its complaint, Moderna sought unspecified monetary damages from Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations sold since March. Pfizer's vaccine generated more than 26.4 billion USD for the New York-based corporation in the first nine months of 2022, while Moderna's vaccine generated more than 13.5 billion USD. In their Monday filing, Pfizer and BioNTech stated that they created their vaccine independently, calling Moderna's case revisionist history and claiming that its patents far exceed its actual contributions to the area. The firms claimed that Moderna ignored their experts' contributions to basic mRNA technology, as well as those of researchers at the National Institutes of Health in the United States.

Movement of Moderna stocks since coming to the market. (Source: Trading Economics)

Sources:

https://tradingeconomics.com/mrna:us

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/pfizer-biontech-countersue-moderna-over-covid-19-vaccine-patents

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/moderna-vs-pfizer-lawsuit-heats-pfizer-and-biontech-clap-back-countersuit

https://www.reuters.com/legal/pfizer-biontech-countersue-moderna-over-covid-19-vaccine-patents-2022-12-05/

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/pfizer-biontech-countersue-moderna-over-covid19-vaccine-patents-2957754