By Dean Seal


BioNTech has agreed to pay $1.26 billion across two separate settlements with the National Institutes of Health and the University of Pennsylvania tied to royalties for its Covid-19 vaccine.

The German developer of RNA vaccines and immunotherapies, which collaborated with Pfizer on the vaccine, said Friday it would pay $791.5 million to resolve a default notice from the National Institutes of Health. The agency previously said BioNTech had failed to pay owed royalties on patents licensed to it for the development of the vaccine.

BioNTech has also agreed to pay up to $467 million to the University of Pennsylvania, according to a securities filing, resolving a lawsuit claiming the university was owed more royalties for patents on messenger RNA research conducted by its scientists.

Of the $467 million sum, $400 million will serve as royalties, up to $15 million is earmarked to fund an extension of the research term in BioNTech and the university's vaccine alliance, and $52 million will be contributed to a research and development investment fund jointly managed by the two parties.

In the NIH deal, $750 million will be used to settle claimed royalties from 2020 to 2023 and the remaining $41.5 million will be paid as consideration for the NIH's entry into a new license agreement.

Pfizer has agreed to reimburse BioNTech for $364.5 million of the claimed royalties paid to NIH and $170.0 million of the claimed royalties paid to the University of Pennsylvania.


Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-27-24 1139ET