As was to be expected, BioNTech SE has filed an invalidity action before the Federal Patent Court against the German part of CureVac AG's European patent EP 1 857 122 B1 (patent in suit) - based on the grounds of lack of novelty, lack of inventive step and lack of practicability.

The invalidity action stems from an infringement action directed against BioNTech SE's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine Comirnaty. In this action, the invalidity defendant (CureVac AG) sued the invalidity plaintiff (BioNTech SE) before the Düsseldorf Regional Court for information, accounting and damages based on the patent in suit, among other things.

The European patent EP 1 857 122 B1 (patent in suit), which was already granted in 2010, concerns a system for genetic vaccination that overcomes the disadvantages associated with the properties of DNA vaccines and increases the efficacy of therapeutics (in particular vaccines) based on RNA species.

According to information provided by the invalidation defendant CureVac AG, a preliminary assessment of the German Federal Patent Court from April 2023 supported the validity of the patent in suit EP 1 857 122 B1.

The judgement of the Federal Patent Court is still pending.