German company BioNTech has entered into two separate settlement agreements with the US federal agency for medical research and the University of Pennsylvania over the payment of royalties related to its COVID-19 vaccine, the company said in court on Friday.
The German company, which partners with US pharma giant Pfizer for its COVID-19 vaccine, said it will pay $791.5 million (€759.2 million) to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the agreement.
Separately, the company will pay $467 million to the University of Pennsylvania to dismiss a lawsuit it brought against the vaccine maker after the educational institution accused it of underpaying royalties.
BioNTech has licensed certain patents from the NIH, among other entities, and owes certain royalty payments to the US government.
Penn’s lawsuit says BioNTech received a sublicense for the school’s technology through another company in 2017, which it then used to develop the vaccine, Comirnaty, with Pfizer.
The BioNTech/Pfizer jab was the first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized by a stringent regulatory authority for emergency use and the first to be approved for routine use.
rm/jsi (Reuters, dpa)
