By Ben Tinker, CNN   

(CNN) -- Moderna on Friday filed patent infringement lawsuits against Pfizer and BioNTech "for infringing patents central to (its) mRNA technology platform," the company said in a news release Friday.

"Moderna believes that Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty infringes patents Moderna filed between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna's foundational mRNA technology. This groundbreaking technology was critical to the development of Moderna's own mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna's permission, to make Comirnaty," the news release said.

CNN has reached out to Pfizer for comment.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

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