One part of the new COVID mRNA shots that media haven’t really addressed so far, has been the patent process. In other words, who owns the patent and who gets paid for it?

As it turns out, behind the scenes, the manufacturers not only are fighting with the federal government over the core technology’s origins but have been in ongoing litigation over it. And now, Moderna has agreed to pay the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) 4400 million for it.

According to Fierce HealthCare, Moderna revealed in its latest earnings statement that the company had agreed to “a $400 million ‘catch-up payment’ under a new royalty-bearing license agreement between the parties.”

So, does the payment hit the company hard? “Moderna pulled down around $36 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales across 2021 and 2022, its two big launch years,” Fierce HealthCare said.

“While the $400 million payment represents only around 1% of the company’s total COVID-19 vaccine sales over that span, the lump-sum nature of the ‘catch-up payment’ drove up Moderna’s fourth quarter’s costs.”

SOURCE:

Fierce HealthCare February 24, 2023