A federal judge in Delaware denied requests from Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna. These companies sought to dismiss a patent infringement lawsuit. Bayer filed the lawsuit.
Bayer's lawsuit, filed in January, claims COVID-19 vaccine makers used messenger RNA technology. Monsanto, a Bayer subsidiary, developed and patented this technology.
The vaccine manufacturers argued their processes differed from Bayer's technology. They also contended the patent was invalid. The judge ruled the companies had not sufficiently demonstrated the patent's invalidity at this early stage. This decision allows the litigation to proceed.