Moderna will not enforce COVID-19 vaccine patents during pandemic

Oct 8 (Reuters) - Moderna Inc said on Thursday it would not enforce patents related to its experimental COVID-19 vaccine while the pandemic continues, a move that would allow other drugmakers to develop shots using the company's technology.

Moderna is not asserting its intellectual property rights for its vaccine technology and is willing to license the technology behind its experimental coronavirus vaccine after the pandemic, the company said in a statement.

The company is one of the furthest along in the U.S. race for a vaccine seen as essential to ending a pandemic that has claimed more than a million lives worldwide.

Moderna has received over $1 billion in government funding to develop and produce its candidate, and another $1.5 billion to supply it to the American public. (Reporting By Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)