re: Pfizer earned $3.5 billion on COVID vaccine in first quarter

I know that the breakthrough that made mRNA viable happened in 2005 at U of Penn. Those two researchers filed for a patent but later licensed it out to both Moderna and BioNTech.

NIH might hold the actual patent, I don't know. It's possible the research at UPenn was funded by NIH. If true, then it would make sense that NIH owns the patent.

And, yes, Pfizer did piggyback off this patent when they partnered with BioNTech. However, Pfizer offered logistics, manufacturing and other expertise BioNTech couldn't have done alone.