+++ Curevac sues BioNtech and a possible reason:+++
According to concurring reports, Curevac has filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the relevant district court in Düsseldorf, Germany [see sources 1&2 below].
The lawsuit claims "intellectual property rights based on two decades of pioneering work in the field of mRNA technology." in connection with BioNTech and Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine.
The text of the statement from Curvac is about, among other things, "several inventions considered essential to the design and development of the vaccine."
The goal of the lawsuit, however, is not to seek an injunction or take steps against "production, sale or distribution," according to Curevac.
So what now might be the request of the barely one-quarter state-owned company (23% BRD stake in the company)?
It's probably about money. Because here, too, Curevac makes it clear: "fair remuneration" is the main concern of the company from Tübingen.
Decisive for the hopeless case of a vaccine manufacturer without a vaccine might be the interesting remark on my part about the financing of the company:
Because if you follow the company's figures and their financing rounds, you quickly realize that the money for financing this loss-making company is slowly but surely running out.
Accompanied by a cash burn of around 300-310 million euros per quarter, money is likely to run out in the second half of the year at the latest, i.e. around fall 2022. The company's market capitalization can no longer help either, having fallen from 20 billion euros in April 2021 to 4 billion euros in January 2022.
Conclusion:
Curevac needs money. And since it can neither get this commercially, nor presumably through further sufficient financing rounds, it has to sue.
Unfortunately, the example of Curevac proves to me once again the overcurrent action of our politicians, who wanted to protect a company at all costs (Trump wanted to acquire the company for the USA according to rumors at the time) without having any knowledge of the matter and the state of development.
The costs will be borne by the taxpayers in the end, possibly the German government will take over the guarantee in case of a failure of further financing.
And what should be the learning effect for investors?
Well, apart from the fact that hype stocks should never be overrated, the example of Curevac should be a warning for all those who believe that first-movers always promise success. Far too often, companies that were first to market (in this case with m-RNA technology) have lost out in the end.
Sources:
Source 3: https://www.curevac.com/investor-relations/finanzberichte/
Note to this opinion: I am not or have not been actively invested in either Curevac or BioNTech. However, I regularly follow news outside of my stocks and companies and form my own opinions.
