ONE BIG HEADLINE

Moderna Sues Pfizer/BioNTech

Moderna is suing rival company Pfizer and German drugmaker BioNTech for allegedly copying its technology behind the development of the first COVID-19 vaccines. In a lawsuit filed in the US and Germany yesterday, Moderna accuses Pfizer/BioNTech of infringing patents it filed between 2010 and 2016, saying the companies copied elements of its mRNA technology (see 101) without permission, including a chemical modification that avoids triggering an undesirable immune response.

Moderna says it is neither seeking to remove the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine off the market nor stop sales of it, but it is seeking unspecified monetary damages for sales beginning after March 8, 2022. In March, Moderna said it would not enforce its patents against manufacturers in 92 developing nations to address global vaccine inequity but signaled it would enforce it in wealthy nations as vaccine supply was no longer a barrier to access.

The Food and Drug Administration first granted emergency authorization to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020, followed by the Moderna vaccine a week later.

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HUMANKIND

Meet Brad Bradley, the 100-year-old sports photographer. (More)

Toledo, Ohio, basketball player saves referee from heart attack on the court. (More)

A man and his grandmother are on a mission to visit every US national park. (More) 

Big brother rescues sister from getting her shoes wet in a puddle. (More)

An 8-year-old girl shares an adorable chat with an astronaut aboard the ISS. (More)

First cat cafe in Charlotte, North Carolina, celebrates 1,000th adoption. (More) 

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HUMANKIND(NESS)

Today, we're sharing a story from reader Erika M. in Plainfield, Illinois.

"It was the second day of school, and I was walking my son, who's in third grade, and our neighbor girl, who just started first grade, to school. A block away, the little girl says that her bag is so heavy. My son doesn't skip a beat, moves his backpack from two shoulders to one, and puts her bag on his shoulder. It melted my heart."

What act(s) of kindness did you experience this week? Tell us.

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ETCETERA 

Historybook: Krakatoa volcano eruption, among the largest in recorded history, kills around 40,000 (1883); President Lyndon B. Johnson born (1908); "Guinness Book of World Records" first published (1955); Sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois dies (1963); American vaudevillian Gracie Allen dies (1964).

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