S.Korea’s SK bioscience wins patent dispute against Pfizer over pneumococcal vaccine

Seoul, May 21
SK bioscience, a biotech arm of South Korea's SK Group, on Wednesday said it has won a patent lawsuit against global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer over pneumococcal vaccine components.

In 2020, Pfizer filed a lawsuit with a Korean court, claiming that SK bioscience's export of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) components and finished products for research to Russia infringed on the composition patent of its vaccine Prevnar 13, Yonhap news agency.

South Korea's Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court's ruling that SK bioscience's PCV13 components do not fall within the scope of Pfizer's patent claims.

The court also ruled that the production and export of PCV13 products for research purposes do not constitute patent infringement.

SK bioscience developed SKYPneumo, South Korea's first domestically produced PCV13, in 2016.

However, due to a separate patent dispute with Pfizer, the company remains restricted from manufacturing and selling the vaccine in South Korea until 2027, when the related patents are set to expire.

The company said the latest ruling is expected to open the door to exporting individual PCV13 components to countries with high vaccine demand, particularly in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

In parallel, SK bioscience is developing a 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in collaboration with Sanofi S.A. The vaccine candidate entered global Phase 3 clinical trials in late 2024.

"This latest court decision is meaningful in that it ensures a competitively developed vaccine in Korea does not go to waste but instead finds a new opportunity," said SK bioscience Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ahn Jae-yong.

"We will leverage this momentum to improve access to premium vaccines, contribute to a stable global vaccine supply, and achieve sustainable growth," Jae-yong added.

In April, SK bioscience also won a patent invalidation case against Moderna, the global developer of the messenger-RNA (mRNA) Covid-19 vaccine, Yonhap reported.

SK bioscience filed a nullity suit in 2023 challenging Moderna's patent on modified nucleosides, nucleotides, and nucleic acids, as well as their uses, the company said.

Moderna's patent is the only registered patent in South Korea related to mRNA manufacturing technology.

SK bioscience had argued the patent "unfairly granted priority rights, which hindered the development of mRNA technology."