Pfizer Limited and others (Appellants) v ModernaTX, Inc (a company incorporated under the the laws of the state of Delaware, USA) and others (Respondents)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0161

Parties

Appellant(s)

(1) Pfizer Limited (2) Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium NV (3) Pfizer Inc

Respondent(s)

ModernaTX Inc

(1) BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH, (2) BioNTech SE

Issue

Was Moderna’s patent relating to Covid-19 vaccines invalid, or was the information within the patent already within the public domain and therefore not patentable?

Facts

These appeals arise out of a dispute concerning Covid-19 vaccines. Following the outbreak of Covid-19, pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech (“PBNT”) collaborated to develop their vaccine trademarked as Comirnaty (“the vaccine”). This was the first vaccine to obtain regulatory approval on 2nd December 2020. It then played a vital role in controlling the pandemic in the UK and worldwide. The vaccine works by injecting messenger RNA (mRNA) which can stimulate an immune response against Covid. Moderna has two patents relating to mRNA technology and alleges that the vaccine’s use of mRNA infringed these patents. Moderna raised proceedings against PBNT seeking damages for all sales of the vaccine in breach of this patent. PBNT then raised proceedings seeking to revoke Moderna’s patents, arguing that they were not valid. Similar proceedings have been raised against the patents in other jurisdictions and are ongoing, including before the European Patent Office (“EPO”). Under the Patents Act 1977, an invention must be new in order to be patented. This means that its contents must not already be publicly available. The appellants argued, amongst other issues, that the mRNA technology developed in one of the patents (“EP949”) was in fact a development of a previous work which was already publicly available. Therefore, they argued that the invention was not new, and the patent was not valid. In the High Court, Meade J decided that EP494 patent was new and therefore valid. This decision was appealed to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court and dismissed PBNT’s appeal. PBNT now appeal to the Supreme Court.

Date of issue

3 September 2025

Case origin

PTA

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