The Federal Patent Court has declared a basic corona vaccine patent from the Tübingen pharmaceutical company CureVac invalid.
The shares of the Tübingen company CureVac then lost a good third of their value.
Curevac announced that it would appeal to the Federal Court of Justice. The company applied for the disputed patent in 2007 and was granted it by the European Patent Office for 20 countries in 2010. This is about a method of overcoming the disadvantages of vaccines with the messenger molecule mRNA and increasing their effectiveness.
The Federal Patent Court has now declared it invalid in Germany. Other national patent courts often follow the decisions of the Munich judges.
The Munich proceedings are only part of the dispute between the two companies – but a very crucial one. CureVac sued BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer for damages at the Düsseldorf regional court in July 2022 for alleged infringement of several of its patents. CureVac is demanding “fair compensation” for the violation of its intellectual property rights, which BioNTech and Pfizer are said to have used in the successful production of their corona vaccine.
The dispute is about a lot of money: BioNTech made a profit of 10.3 billion euros in 2021, and the bottom line in 2022 was 9.4 billion euros.
In return, BioNTech sued the Federal Patent Court in Munich and successfully demanded that a fundamental CureVac patent be declared invalid. It is not based on an invention. The Düsseldorf regional court has postponed the proceedings there until December 28th to await the decision of the federal judges.
CureVac failed to bring a corona vaccine onto the market in time. However, the company claims to have developed basic technologies that have made a significant contribution to the development of effective Covid-19 vaccines: It was “a pioneer in discovering the potential of mRNA for the treatment of diseases and the production of vaccines”.
BioNTech welcomed the decision of the Federal Patent Court. It makes it clear “that our research work is original”. BioNTech developed the world’s first approved COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnty, in 2020. This made it possible to vaccinate more than a billion people worldwide.
After the outbreak of the corona pandemic in 2020, the German state also invested in CureVac. However, the company with a good 1,000 employees was unable to produce a corona vaccine. It does not yet have a commercially approved product and is in the red.
According to CureVac, the dispute with BioNTech and Pfizer in Germany involves eight patents. In the USA, where a large part of the corona vaccine was produced, there are ten patents.
The market for Covid-19 vaccines has now collapsed. BioNTech is also struggling with shrinking sales. US partner Pfizer had to write off billions on its inventories and slipped into the red in the last quarter. Moderna reported a billion-dollar loss for the third quarter. In a ruling on Tuesday in Munich, the Federal Patent Court declared a patent claimed by CureVac to be invalid. The patent on vaccines that the European Patent Office granted to Curevac is not valid in Germany, said presiding judge Walter Schramm. The Mainz-based company BioNTech became known for its Covid-19 vaccine, which the company and its partner Pfizer have sold billions of times. The Tübingen competitor CureVac accuses BioNTech of violating several patents. BioNTech, in turn, is checking whether CureVac’s intellectual property rights are even valid.
UBS leaves CureVac price target unchanged
The major Swiss bank UBS has left CureVac at “Buy” with a price target of 18 US dollars after the vaccine researcher’s patent was declared invalid. In the ongoing legal dispute with rivals Biontech and Pfizer, this is just one patent of many, emphasized analyst Eliana Merle in a study available on Tuesday. The long-term value of Curevac’s mRNA platform is not adequately appreciated at the current price level. The expert identifies price drivers for 2024, such as the phase 2 studies with partner GSK for COVID and flu.
This is how horrified the CureVac shareholders react
One person’s joy, another’s sorrow: Because the biotech company CureVac lost out in a patent dispute over mRNA technology with rival BioNTech, Tübingen’s shares went downhill rapidly on Tuesday afternoon. The CureVac price fell to a record low, most recently the discount was 29.55 percent at $4.1000, while BioNTech shares rose 3.03 percent to $106.71. BioNTech shares attempted to exit their recent sideways trend higher towards the mid-October price gap.
The Federal Patent Court had declared a basic corona vaccine patent from Curevac invalid. The court thus upheld a lawsuit brought by Mainz competitor Biontech. Curevac wants to appeal the verdict.
Analyst Eliana Merle from the major Swiss bank UBS, however, doesn’t see it as bleak for CureVac. In the ongoing legal dispute with BioNTech, this is just one patent of many, she emphasized. The long-term value of CureVac’s mRNA platform is not adequately appreciated at current price levels. The expert identifies price drivers for 2024, such as the phase 2 studies with partner GSK for Covid and flu.
Merle further recommends buying the CureVac shares. She left her price target at $18.
Munich (dpa-AFX) /
ZURICH (dpa-AFX Broker)
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