What happened
Shares of CureVac (CVAC 0.87%) were down 9.1% as of 2:45 p.m. ET Thursday after a German court temporarily suspended the biopharmaceutical company's patent trial against BioNTech (BNTX 0.58%).
So what
CureVac previously failed to develop a successful COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic, opting instead to focus on potential second-generation vaccines in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. BioNTech, by contrast, generated tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue from its successful mRNA vaccines developed in partnership with Pfizer.
CureVac subsequently filed a lawsuit in Germany against BioNTech in July 2022, seeking "fair compensation" for infringement of its intellectual property rights based on over two decades of work on mRNA technology.
On Thursday, however, a Dusseldorf-based regional court suspended proceedings until German and European patent offices could decide on a legal challenge filed by BioNTech over the validity of CureVac's intellectual property rights in question.
Now what
Keep in mind that this is a temporary suspension, and it doesn't mean the end of CureVac's lawsuit. But it is concerning that the lawsuit's ability to move forward is now contingent on whether CureVac can prevail in the challenge filed by BioNTech, which questions the validity of its mRNA IP in the first place.
Investors should also keep in mind that while succeeding in this lawsuit could significantly improve CureVac's financial position, the company hasn't placed all of its eggs in the COVID-19 vaccine basket. Shares previously rallied back in July as the company began a phase 1 trial for its mRNA-based cancer vaccine candidate.
In any case, the markets hate being told to hurry up and wait, and it's hardly surprising to see shares of CureVac pulling back in response today.
