Moderna, NIH At Odds Over Who Invented The Biotech's COVID-19 Shot: NYT

Moderna Inc’s MRNA ongoing feud with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over COVID-19 vaccine patents has spilled into the open.
Both parties are in dispute over who deserves credit for inventing the central component of the Company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
In a new report from the New York Times, Moderna is asserting that three NIH scientists were not involved in inventing the critical component of the vaccine.
The claim comes from a July filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Within the filing, Moderna said it had “reached the good-faith determination” that three NIH scientists, John Mascola, Barney Graham, and Kizzmekia Corbett, “did not co-invent” the sequence that prompts the body’s immune response to the coronavirus spike protein.
The NIH had been in talks with Moderna for more than a year to resolve the dispute. According to a government official familiar with the matter, the Company’s July filing caught the agency by surprise.
Though NIH says, the trio worked with Moderna to design the component in question.
The NYT reports that the agency would not need Moderna’s permission to license the vaccine technology to other companies, countries, or organizations if the scientists are named on the patent.
Price Action: MRNA shares are down 2.26% at $231.50 during the market session on the last check Wednesday.