CureVac and Acuitas wind up COVID-19 vaccine dispute
Settlement comes after Acuitas alleged CureVac deliberately omitted its scientists as inventors on four US patents related to COVID-19 vaccines, claiming co-inventorship | Patents in suit relate to ongoing litigation with Pfizer and BioNTech.
CureVac and Acuitas Therapeutics have settled their COVID-19 vaccine dispute.
According to a filing, submitted April 25, 2024, the German-based CureVac and Canadian-based Acuitas have settled a suit that demanded credit sharing for COVID-19 vaccine inventions.
Acuitas, along with its scientists Michael Hope, Ying Tam, Paulo Lin, and Barbara Mui, filed a November 2023 lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, against CureVac, alleging that CureVac deliberately omitted Acuitas's scientists as inventors on four US patents, with Acuitas seeking a declaratory judgment of inventorship.
The patents, which include US patent numbers: 11,241,493; 11,471,525; 11,576,966; and 11,596,686, are assigned to CureVac.
The named inventors on these patents include Susanne Rauch, Hans Wolfgang Große, and Benjamin Petsch. However, Acuitas claimed that their scientists should have also been listed as inventors on these patents.
According to the complaint Acuitas' scientists significantly contributed to the creation of the inventions claimed in the patent family.
Acuitas claims co-inventorship
Acuitas and CureVac have been collaborating on therapeutics using Acuitas' technology since at least 2014, claimed the suit.
This collaboration included the development of mRNA-LNP vaccines against various viruses, including rabies and coronaviruses. According to Acuitas, its scientists worked hand in hand with CureVac's scientists, significantly contributing to the inventions claimed in the patent family.
The complaint further alleged that, without Acuitas' knowledge, CureVac filed patent applications for the patent family, deliberately omitting Acuitas' scientists as inventors.
These patents claim subject matter that includes Acuitas' scientific know-how and inventive contributions.
Acuitas requested the court include its scientists as co-inventors on the patents, enabling them to license the patents without needing permission from CureVac.
CureVac faces Pfizer and BioNTech
Acuitas’ technology has been used in Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, when the trio went into a partnership in January 2022—resulting in CureVac accusing the pair of patent infringement.
In June 2022, CureVac accused BioNTech of patent infringement over its mRNA technology in the German Regional Court in Düsseldorf.
In December 2023 a nullity action filed by BioNTech against the German part of one of CureVac’s patents was granted by the German Federal Patent Court.
In a parallel litigation, CureVac and BioNTech went head to head in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts over the use of mRNA technology.
In May 2023, CureVac alleged infringement of nine patents, expanding the scope of the case beyond the three patents originally named by Pfizer and BioNTech.
These nine patents were then extended to ten in July 2023—the tenth related to mRNA purification methods, a critical part of the overall mRNA manufacturing process.
Additionally, CureVac’s motion to transfer the patent litigation filed by Pfizer/BioNTech in the federal district court of Massachusetts was granted, moving the case to the Eastern District of Virginia with the litigation ongoing.
Acuitas was represented by Nicholas Groombridge, Eric Stone and Josephine Young from Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone, and Robert McFarland from McGuireWoods.
CureVac was represented by Mark Izraelewicz and Kevin Flowers from Marshall Gerstein & Borun.
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