Moderna wants to reportedly leave U.S. government scientists off a patent for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) worked together to create the mRNA coronavirus vaccine.
However, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post, Moderna filed patents that leave off the names of the government-funded scientists from the NIH.
In a filing with the U.S. Trademark Office, Moderna says it has “reached the good-faith determination that these individuals did not co-invent" the genetic sequence that prompts an immune response, The New York Times reports. Moderna claims its scientists were the sole inventors of the crucial component of the vaccine, according to The New York Times.
The names on the patent are about much more than giving the government credit, according to The Times. The publication reports that being named on the patent could give the government more of a say in which companies can manufacture the vaccine and which countries are granted access to it. It could also have monetary implications, The Times reports.
The patent office will not decide whether the government should be on the patent, according to The Times. It will only determine whether a patent is warranted. There's no timeline for when a potential patent could be issued.