Bayer sues Pfizer, Moderna over alleged use of Monsanto GMO Tech in COVID vaccines

Bayer has filed lawsuits against Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in a United States federal court, accusing the pharmaceutical giants of unlawfully using patented genetic engineering technology originally developed by Monsanto in the production of their COVID-19 vaccines.

According to court documents cited by Reuters, the German chemical and pharmaceutical company alleges that the drugmakers relied on decades-old mRNA optimisation technology pioneered by Monsanto to overcome key challenges in vaccine development, including mRNA instability and low protein expression.

Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018, developed the technology in the 1980s and filed a patent application in 1989, though the patent was not granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office until 2010.

At the centre of the lawsuits is what is referred to as the “’118 Patent,” a method that allows scientists to modify genetic sequences by removing destabilising or “problem” sequences and substituting alternative codons to improve stability and protein output.

Codons are nucleotide sequences that carry genetic instructions, and the process—known as codon optimisation—is widely used to enhance protein expression in biotechnology and pharmaceutical applications.

Bayer claims that Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, as well as Moderna, used this patented technique in designing the genetic instructions for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in their mRNA vaccines.

Although Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine is based on viral vector technology rather than mRNA, the lawsuit alleges that J&J also relied on the same patented genetic engineering methods to stabilise and amplify protein expression.

In its filings, Bayer emphasised that it is not seeking to halt the production or distribution of COVID-19 vaccines or other mRNA-based products. Instead, the company says it is entitled to financial compensation for the unauthorised use of its intellectual property.

“Defendants have profited handsomely from infringing vaccine sales worldwide,” the complaint states.

“The patent system provides an important, predictable framework for advancing scientific knowledge by allowing companies a limited period to recover at least a reasonable royalty for the unauthorised use of their patented inventions. Plaintiffs seek this basic compensation afforded to a patent holder under the patent statute.”

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Financial disclosures cited by Reuters show that Pfizer and BioNTech earned more than $3.3 billion from global sales of their Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine in 2024 alone, while Moderna reported $3.2 billion in revenue from its Spikevax vaccine during the same period.

Bayer further claims that Pfizer and BioNTech have generated more than $93 billion in total sales from their COVID-19 shot since its launch, though revenues have declined significantly from pandemic-era peaks.

The lawsuits acknowledge the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that it caused more than seven million deaths globally and about 1.2 million deaths in the United States.

They also reference Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government-backed initiative credited with accelerating vaccine development and saving millions of lives. However, Bayer argues that the commercial success of the vaccines was built, in part, on the unauthorised use of Monsanto’s patented technology.

The company alleges that each defendant removed approximately 100 such “problem sequences” from the genetic code used to produce the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, thereby improving vaccine stability and effectiveness.

The latest lawsuits add a new dimension to the legal and commercial battles surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, raising complex questions about intellectual property, biotechnology innovation and profit-sharing in one of the most lucrative chapters in pharmaceutical history.