Moderna vs US govt: COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer halts dispute over patent issues

US drugmaker Moderna, on Saturday, said that the company is halting a patent spat with the US government over its COVID-19 vaccine. According to the statement released by the vaccine manufacturer, it did not want to indulge in any fight at the time when the country is struggling against the new COVID variant. Further, the company added it did not want to "avoid any distraction" in the fight against the Omicron variant.

"The company would like to avoid any distraction to the important public-private efforts ongoing to address emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron," Moderna said in a statement on Friday night shared with The Washington Post.  However, the company said it would continue the discussion over the patent issue at a later date.

According to the Moderna Spokesperson, the company had earlier decided to drop the patent application and added it had also informed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about the same. However, the Washington Post, in its report said that the decision could hamper Joe Biden administration's international vaccination strategy. As per the Washington Post sources, the government wanted to take leverage of sharing the administration's global vaccination strategy to the developing or poor nations. Now, with the latest development, the pending decision would act as an obstacle for the Biden administration to share the formula with other nations.

Moderna's claim has complicated the government's ability to license the shot

"It is also expected to turn down the heat on the Cambridge, Massachusetts vaccine maker, which projected as much as $18 billion in sales from its vaccine this year, and has received stinging criticism for doing too little to share its breakthroughs with poorer nations," according to the Washington Post report.

Government scientists worked with Moderna in January 2020 to rapidly develop the spike protein technology key to the company's messenger RNA vaccine. But Moderna had disputed claims that three scientists from the National Institutes of Health were co-inventors, complicating the government's ability to license the shot and share it with vaccine makers in low- and middle-income countries, where vaccines are still scarce. Meanwhile, two administration officials said that they were still studying whether Moderna's decision would enable the government to revise its global strategy.

With inputs from ANI

Image: AP