Moderna, Pfizer Press to Toss Bayer’s Covid-Shot Patent Suits

Moderna and partners Pfizer and BioNTech urged a judge to dismiss Bayer’s lawsuits accusing their Covid-19 vaccines of infringing a crop-based genetic-engineering patent, arguing the claims are implausible and don’t fit mRNA technology.

Bayer AG’s complaint fails to plausibly allege infringement because most of the asserted patent claims are limited to plant or insecticidal genes—not human mRNA technologies—while the remaining broader claims amount to a “general law of nature,” Moderna Inc. said in a brief filed Monday supporting its motion to dismiss in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said in a ...