Alnylam says Moderna used patented tech to make vaccine

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has accused Moderna of using its nanoparticle technology to develop its COVID-19 vaccine.

The Massachusetts biopharma company submitted a complaint to the US District Court for the District of Delaware on Thursday, March 17, alleging that the vaccine was developed using its cationic biodegradable lipid nanoparticle (LNP).

It also alleges that Moderna executives have said that the lipid is the “unsung hero” of its vaccine.

The company seeks monetary compensation for Moderna’s “unlicensed use” of its lipid, which is protected by US patent 11,246,933.

The complaint said: “The patented Alnylam LNP technology is essential to Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine’s efficacy and safety… to be effective, the mRNA strands need a delivery mechanism that can ensure that the mRNA strands are not degraded before delivery to the cell and can penetrate the cell.

“Moderna turned to its SM-102 lipid to meet these requirements for its COVID-19 Vaccine,” Alnylam added.

Moderna’s vaccine

Moderna made an early pledge not to enforce its patents during its vaccine-related patents during the pandemic.

It later expanded this pledge to assert that it would “never” enforce its COVID patents in 92 low and middle-income countries.

However, it did not agree to share its recipe with other manufacturers that requested it in order to make generics for low and middle-income countries.

In February, Afrigen became the first company to manufacture its own COVID-19 vaccine using publicly available information, which was related to Moderna’s vaccine. The treatment could see testing by the end of this year.

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