Moderna pauses patent dispute over COVID vaccine with US govt, to 'avoid any distraction' in fight against Omicron

Washington [US], December 18 : Moderna is pausing a patent dispute with the United States federal government over its coronavirus vaccine, saying it wants to "avoid any distraction" in the fight against the Omicron variant.
"The company would like to avoid any distraction to the important public-private efforts ongoing to address emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron," Moderna said in a statement on Friday night shared with The Washington Post.
Moderna also said it has filed a continuation that will allow it to pursue discussions about the patent at a later date.
Moderna first informed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of its plan to drop the patent application at a December 10 meeting, a Moderna spokesperson said.
Dan Diamond, a national health reporter for The Washington Post said that the decision could have implications for the Biden administration's global vaccination strategy, as officials look for leverage to share mRNA vaccine discoveries with developing countries in an effort to ramp up worldwide supply.
It is also expected to turn down the heat on the Cambridge, Massachusetts vaccine maker, which projected as much as USD 18 billion in sales from its vaccine this year, and has received stinging criticism for doing too little to share its breakthroughs with poorer nations, said Diamond.
Government scientists worked with Moderna in January 2020 to rapidly develop the spike protein technology key to the company's messenger RNA vaccine.
But Moderna had disputed claims that three scientists from the National Institutes of Health were co-inventors, complicating the government's ability to license the shot and share it with vaccine makers in low- and middle-income countries, where vaccines are still scarce.
Moderna officials said attention to the patent issue had ballooned and threatened to disrupt the pandemic response.
Meanwhile, two administration officials said that they were still studying whether Moderna's decision would enable the government to revise its global strategy.
Celine Gounder, an infectious-disease doctor who advised Biden's transition team on the coronavirus, said she hoped Moderna's decision would empower the White House to compel the company to share its technology -- particularly given the need for additional shots to fight virus variants like omicron.
The White House has been at odds with Moderna over the vaccine maker's broader strategy, with Biden officials privately adamant that the 11-year-old company -- which had never turned a profit before the pandemic -- owes its success to the US government.
The company was staked with about USD 2.5 billion in federal funds to develop its vaccine last year, and has since received billions more to boost its manufacturing capacity, reported the Washington Post.