Moderna has been protective of the intellectual property surrounding its vaccine, including being willing to go to court and accusing other companies of patent infringement. Now the most recent update puts a magnifying glass on Moderna’s dealings with China.
Per a report from the Financial Times over the weekend, China asked Moderna to hand over the intellectual property behind its megablockbuster vaccine known as Spikevax. Citing people “familiar with the matter,” the report notes that the mRNA biotech was in negotiations with China in 2020 and 2021 to sell its product in the world’s most populous country.
But Moderna backed out of those negotiations due to “safety and commercial concerns,” per the report.
As the Times noted, China has offered only two routes to allow non-Chinese Covid-19 vaccine makers to distribute in the country: to hand over all the technology to a domestic drugmaker; or to break ground on a manufacturing facility in the country with a Chinese partner, yet retain control of the technology.
However, per the Times’ sources, Moderna execs did not want to hand over the vaccine “recipe” to a Chinese partner, because if the company messed up on the manufacturing, Moderna feared damage to its reputation.
After China’s reported demand, another source added to the Times that the company had given up on its efforts to enter the Chinese market.
Moderna did not respond to a request for comment from Endpoints News. However, the company told the Times on record that “We are not currently engaged in supply talks with China. We are open to speaking with countries on their supply needs for Covid-19 vaccines.”
The mRNA giant had just recently said that it would start to enforce its patent rights in wealthier countries. To that extent, the company sued Pfizer and BioNTech in August, alleging that the vaccine the pair developed utilized parts of Moderna’s technology that it had patented between 2010 and 2016.
