Fierce Pharma Bayer has filed separate lawsuits against the creators of three COVID-19 vaccines, claiming they violated intellectual property developed by Monsanto, the crop science company the German company acquired a decade ago.
In federal district court in Delaware, Bayer filed one complaint against Moderna and another against partners Pfizer and BioNTech. In U.S. district court in New Jersey, Bayer also is suing Johnson & Johnson.
The lawsuits allege that the defendants used Bayer’s technology in creating their vaccines “to eliminate ‘problem’ coding sequences in the building blocks of cells to improve mRNA stability and the amount or quality of protein produced.” Pfizer and J&J did not respond to a request for comment. Moderna and BioNTech responded but only to say they were aware of the litigation.
Monsanto filed to protect its intellectual property in 1989, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office eventually granted it in 2010, according to the lawsuits. Bayer bought out Monsanto for $66 billion in 2016.