South Korean biotechnology firm wins patent case against Pfizer over vaccine components

ISTANBUL

A South Korean biotechnology company has won a patent lawsuit against Pfizer, the world-renowned pharmaceutical company, over components of its pneumococcal vaccine.

SK Bioscience, a subsidiary of SK Group that produces vaccines and other products, announced on Wednesday that it has won a patent lawsuit against Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company based in New York, over components of its pneumococcal vaccine, according to Yonhap News.

In 2020, Pfizer filed a lawsuit in a South Korean court, alleging that SK bioscience's export of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) components and finished products for research to Russia violated the composition patent of its Prevnar 13 vaccine.

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

The court also determined that producing and exporting PCV13 products for research purposes does not amount to patent infringement.

SK bioscience stated that the recent ruling is expected to pave the way for exporting individual PCV13 components to countries with high vaccine demand, especially in Southeast Asia and Latin America.