A COVID vaccine patent fight now runs through the fields of 1980s crop biotechnology, reaching into the pandemic era with a Monsanto COVID Vaccine Lawsuit.
Bayer’s Monsanto subsidiaries claim Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson used patented gene-sequence technology first developed for genetically modified crops. The companies allegedly used the methods to improve vaccine stability and protein expression. Reuters reported Bayer filed the lawsuits in January in Delaware and New Jersey federal courts.
Monsanto COVID Vaccine Lawsuit
The Monsanto COVID vaccine lawsuit names Bayer CropScience LLC, Monsanto Company and Monsanto Technology LLC as plaintiffs in the Pfizer/BioNTech case.
The complaint says the case centers on U.S. Patent No. 7,741,118. It describes the patent as covering “method[s] for modifying structural gene sequences to enhance expression of the protein product.”
Monsanto researchers David Fischhoff and Fred Perlak developed the technology while working on plants resistant to insects and viruses in the 1980s, according to the complaint. Bayer says the researchers found that certain “problem sequences” contributed to mRNA instability and poor protein expression in higher organisms.
Bayer’s Monsanto unit already carries years of legal baggage, including Monsanto’s long-running legal controversies over Roundup, before this new COVID vaccine patent fight moved its crop-biotechnology portfolio into the pharmaceutical arena.
Pfizer and BioNTech
Bayer alleges Pfizer and BioNTech used the patented method in Comirnaty, their COVID-19 vaccine. The complaint says the original monovalent vaccine removed about 100 identified problem sequences from the COVID-19 spike protein gene to improve mRNA stability.
Moderna
Moderna faces a separate Delaware lawsuit over Spikevax. Johnson & Johnson faces a separate New Jersey lawsuit over a DNA-based process used in manufacturing its COVID shot, which was not an mRNA vaccine.
The lawsuits do not accuse the companies of causing vaccine injuries. They focus on patent rights.
Bayer says it did not develop or sell COVID vaccines. It also says it does not seek to stop vaccine manufacturing. Instead, it seeks money.
What Bayer Wants
In the Pfizer/BioNTech complaint, Bayer asks for damages no lower than “a reasonable royalty” and seeks an ongoing royalty until the patent expires.
That distinction matters because some reports focused on the $93 billion figure. Bayer does not appear to demand $93 billion.
The complaint alleges Pfizer and BioNTech generated more than $93 billion in global sales revenue from their mRNA COVID vaccines through the third quarter of 2025, including more than $22 billion in the United States. That figure describes alleged vaccine revenue, not Bayer’s damages demand.
Defendants Deny Claims
The defendants deny the claims.
Bloomberg Law reported March 31 that Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech asked a Delaware federal judge to dismiss Bayer’s lawsuits. Moderna argued the patent claims mostly focus on plant or insecticidal genes, not human mRNA technology.
The Bayer cases join a widening set of COVID vaccine patent fights.
Reuters reported April 24 that CureVac sued Moderna over mRNA technology. Reuters also noted other companies, including Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline and Alnylam, continue to seek revenue shares from COVID vaccine patent claims.
Bayer’s own history adds another layer. The company completed its Monsanto acquisition in 2018 for $63 billion, including debt. That deal brought together Bayer’s crop-protection business and Monsanto’s seeds and traits business.
Now Monsanto’s gene-engineering patent portfolio sits inside one of the most profitable medical technology fights of the pandemic era.
The courts still need to decide whether Bayer’s claims fit the vaccine technologies at issue. But the Monsanto COVID vaccine lawsuit already raises a larger question: how much of modern manufactured medicine traces back to older genetic engineering work in agriculture?
The cases remain at an early stage. In the Pfizer/BioNTech case, dismissal briefing runs into June 2026. No trial date appears in the public docket summaries reviewed by NewsBlaze. If the lawsuits survive early dismissal efforts, the fight could continue through discovery, patent-claim hearings and possible settlement talks before any jury trial.
