US Business

Moderna said Friday it is suing rival vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech, alleging the partners infringed on its patents in developing their Covid-19 shot administered to hundreds of millions around the world.

The lawsuits set up a high-stakes showdown between the leading manufacturers of Covid-19 shots that are a key tool in the fight against the disease.

“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,” the US-based biotech firm said in a statement.

“Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to make Comirnaty,” Moderna said.

Pfizer and BioNTech said they have not fully reviewed the complaint, but expressed surprise over the litigation.

“The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology,” a statement said. “We will vigorously defend against the allegations of the lawsuit.”

The mRNA technology used in the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shots differs from that in traditional vaccines, which rely on injecting weakened or dead forms of a virus to allow the immune system to recognize it and build antibodies.

Instead, mRNA vaccines deliver instructions to cells to build a harmless piece of the spike protein found on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19. 

After creating this spike protein, cells can recognize and fight the real virus, hailed as a major advancement in development of vaccines.

– Key tool against deadly pandemic –

The shots have repeatedly been the subject of inaccurate claims that they are dangerous, but health authorities say they are both safe and effective.

The lawsuits — in US district court in Massachusetts, and in regional court in Dusseldorf, Germany — are not seeking the removal of the rival vaccine or an injunction on future sales.

Moderna said it had begun building up the technology in 2010 and patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, which allowed for rollout of its shots in “record time” after the pandemic struck. 

The virus has killed at least 6.48 million people worldwide since 2020 and made nearly 600 million ill, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

In addition to death and suffering, the disease has led to a re-shaping of life ranging from a change in norms on working from home to a scrambling of supply chains and workforces.

Moderna said it pledged in October 2020 not to enforce its Covid-19-related patents while the pandemic continued, but less than two years later changed that stance as the fight shifted gears.

“Moderna expected companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech to respect its intellectual property rights and would consider a commercially reasonable license should they request one for other markets,” it said. 

“Pfizer and BioNTech have failed to do so,” the firm added.

These types of lawsuits are not unheard of in the pharmaceutical industry, where patents can be worth billions of dollars, and can take years to resolve.

Taming high US inflation will inflict “pain” on American families and businesses, but failure to wrestle prices down from their current 40-year high would be even more harmful, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday in a hotly-anticipated speech to global policymakers.

Addressing the annual gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell did not hold back or leave room for doubt about the central bank’s course, pledging to act “forcefully.”

He warned the world’s largest economy is likely to slow for a sustained period, and the strong US job market will suffer in order to get prices down — which he called the “unfortunate costs of reducing inflation.”

The Fed has been on an aggressive campaign to raise interest rates — and Powell made it clear in Jackson Hole that the fight against inflation is not over.

“Restoring price stability will take some time and requires using our tools forcefully to bring demand and supply into better balance,” he told the gathering, held against the backdrop of the majestic Grand Teton mountains.

“While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses,” Powell said.

“But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.”

Modest signs of slowing in the world’s largest economy and easing price pressures spurred hope in financial markets that the central bank might ease up on its aggressive rate hikes, and perhaps even start to reverse course next year.

But Powell doused those hopes, making it clear that Fed policy and the benchmark borrowing rate would have to remain “sufficiently restrictive” to return inflation to its two percent target.

– Improving data –

Supply chain issues have continued, worsened by a series of Covid lockdowns in China, and have combined with Russia’s war in Ukraine, to send prices soaring worldwide.

In the battle to contain red-hot US inflation, which topped nine percent in June, the Fed has hiked rates four times, including massive, three-quarter-point increases in June and July — steep moves unheard of since the early 1980s — to the current level of a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent.

Powell repeated that another three-quarter point increase could be appropriate at the September policy meeting.

But recent data has shown signs of a slowing in price increases. 

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index, fell 0.1 percent in July a dramatic slowdown from the 1.0 percent surge in June, largely reflecting the recent sharp retreat in global oil prices.

Over the last 12 months, the PCE price index slowed to 6.3 percent, the Commerce Department reported.

But Powell did not take much comfort in the figures.

“While the lower inflation readings for July are welcome, a single month’s improvement falls far short of what the Committee will need to see before we are confident that inflation is moving down,” he said.

Powell pointed to the experience of one of his predecessors, famed inflation dragonslayer Paul Volcker — who used aggressive measures to quell runaway prices — and said officials cannot retreat from their responsibility.

“We must keep at it until the job is done,” he said, warning against any “premature” easing of policy.

Former Bank of England board member Adam Posen, who leads the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said he expects the benchmark lending rate will reach four percent by February, and but the Fed will be “willing to go further if needed, with the chances of a reversal in 2023 year “very, very low.”

France’s record heat and drought have not spared the majestic pastures under the snow-capped Alps, where cows are struggling to find enough grass to produce milk for reblochon and other prized cheeses.

“Everything’s yellow and parched, so we’ll have to bring them down from the pastures a month early,” said Theo Bargetzy, 28, as cowbells rang out in a field some 1,600 metres (5,250 feet) above sea level.

Crowds of tourists in search of cooler climes have flocked to the Alps this summer where buying local raw-milk reblochon and other hand-made cheeses directly from local producers is a cherished ritual. 

But this year, some heading to Bargetzy’s Lorettes farm perched above La Clusaz are coming away empty-handed — cows are not getting their usual fill of fresh grass, and their milk is less rich as a result.

July was the driest month on record for France overall since 1961, and heat waves pushed temperatures near La Clusaz above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) on several days, unheard-of on the steep slopes.

“We’re losing one reblochon per cow per day, so in a week that’s 300 fewer cheeses,” Bargetzy says later, while molding fresh curds into discs that will be carefully aged on wooden planks in a cellar until the distinctive orange-gold rind forms.

It takes four litres of milk (just over a gallon) to make each cheese that weighs some 450 grammes (just under a pound) — within the guidelines set by the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO), the guardian of France’s strict food and wine appellations.

“The worst thing is that this is when we have lots of tourists wanting to buy, and we don’t have enough for everyone — we run out, and can’t sell to all the people coming to visit,” he said. 

– Raise prices again? –

Dozens of farmers have already dipped into their winter feed stocks, but overall dairy production in the region is down 15 percent from last year’s levels, according to the AFTAlp cheese producers’ association.

“The situation is difficult — we’ve had droughts in the past but this is going on everywhere in France, Italy and elsewhere in Europe,” said the association’s president Jean-Luc Duclos.

Duclos and his family manage a farm with more than 200 cows for making emmental as well as meat near Frangy, with an app-controlled milking system that would astonish his grandfather, who had “four cows and four hectares to feed 11 children.”

He worries that rising costs of feed, gas and electricity since the outbreak of the Ukraine war will create a vicious circle of price speculation and hoarding that could hurt farmers for months to come.

“We’ve already had to raise the prices of our Savoy products… but I think we’ll have to raise them again, by around five to eight percent, to cover the impact of this drought,” he said.

What for generations was subsistence farming has become a thriving Alps industry, though most operations are still family affairs that rely on both local and national networks to distribute their stocks.

Felix Gallet, 46, plays a key role as technical director of the reblochon cooperative in nearby Thones, ensuring the strict hygiene protocols required to sell raw-milk cheeses many countries do not allow because of bacterial risks.

“Our output is down around four or five percent. It’s not a complete catastrophe because some farms are higher up, and temperatures were a little lower than in the valleys,” Gallet said.

“But it’s true that it’s going to have an impact on our volumes, we’re hoping to recover this winter but it’s going to be hard to make up for what we’ve already lost,” he said.

Gallet also warned that in response, producers can increase prices only so much.

“It’s hard to go much higher, even for high-quality cheese. You have to bear in mind what consumers can pay,” he said.

British households on Friday faced an eye-watering 80-percent hike in electricity and gas bills, in a dramatic worsening of the cost-of-living crisis before winter as the country awaits a new leader.

Regulator Ofgem said its energy price cap, which sets prices for consumers who are not on a fixed deal with their supplier, will increase from October 1 to an average £3,549 ($4,197) per year from the current £1,971.

Worse is expected to come in January, when Ofgem next updates its cap, with average bills predicted to top £5,000 — or more. 

Ofgem blamed the increase on the spike in global wholesale gas prices after the lifting of Covid restrictions and Russian restrictions on supplies.

But it sparked outcry about the effect on already financially squeezed households, pensioners and the sick — and growing calls for people not to pay.

“Everybody’s gonna have trouble,” said Diane Skidmore, 72, who lives in social housing in south London and makes do on £600 a month.

She told AFP she would turn off her heating in winter and use blankets and jumpers to try to keep her rocketing bills down.

The chief executive of Marie Curie cancer care charity, Matthew Reed, said terminally ill people it helps need specialist medical equipment and warned they “could freeze to death this winter without further support”.

UK inflation is already in double-digits and forecast to strike 13 percent in the coming months due to runaway energy bills.

Inflation is at its highest level since 1982, with industrial action over pay growing, and the country is predicted to enter recession later this year. 

The near-doubling in the energy cap will likely tip millions into fuel poverty, forcing them to choose between heating or eating, anti-poverty experts say.

“Some parents are coming to us in tears, terrified about how they are going to feed their children,” said Rossanna Trudgian, head of campaigns and public affairs at Action for Children charity.

More than 115,000 have pledged to protest on October 1, said the Don’t Pay action group, which wants bills reduced to affordable levels.

Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley acknowledged the difficulties. “I talk to customers regularly and I know that today’s news will be very worrying for many,” he said.

– ‘Zombie’ government –

The rampant cost-of-living crisis has dominated the race between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to succeed Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Political opponents have accused him of leading a zombie government and doing nothing to address the problem since his resignation in July.

Household and business consumers, energy suppliers and opposition politicians said urgent action is needed to avoid putting the most vulnerable in desperate situations.

A University of York study recently estimated two-thirds of UK households are at risk of fuel poverty by next year. 

But Johnson, who has been on holiday twice in recent weeks, has promised to leave major fiscal decisions to his successor. 

The winner will not be announced for another 10 days. 

Foreign Secretary Truss says she favours tax cuts over “handouts” but her challenger, former finance minister Sunak, said that will worsen inflation and has instead proposing further direct support.

The government has so far offered help including £400 being taken off every household’s energy bill later this year as well as other targeted support to pensioners and those on disability benefits.

Finance minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News of the £37 billion support package: “We know that’s not enough. We’ve got to do more,” without giving details.

Leaders of devolved parliaments in Wales and Scotland and opposition parties have called for an immediate freeze on the price increase.

– ‘Catastrophe’ –

Anti-poverty think tank The Resolution Foundation has demanded “radical” measures to prevent “a catastrophe” this winter, warning of “serious physical and financial damage to families across Britain”.

With many poorer households relying on more costly pre-payment meters, the foundation predicted thousands could see their energy cut off entirely. 

It is calling for poorer households to be offered a “social tariff” with a 30 percent discount.

Adam Scorer, chief executive of fuel poverty charity Energy Action, also told Sky News that the government must double its support package and work with the regulator to introduce a social tariff” for vulnerable households.

European stock markets wobbled Friday ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell that is expected to reiterate his plan to ramp up US interest rates to fight soaring inflation.

London equities edged up despite news that UK domestic energy bills will rocket even higher this year on surging wholesale gas prices as Britain’s cost-of-living crisis worsens.

Yet Frankfurt and Paris stocks slid on fears of a eurozone energy crunch in the coming peak-demand winter as Russia curbs supplies.

Europe’s benchmark Dutch TTF gas contract dipped Friday one day after soaring to 324 euros per megawatt hour, not far from the record high struck in March after key gas producer Russia invaded Ukraine.

All eyes are now on Powell’s remarks later Friday at the annual symposium of top bankers and finance chiefs at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Most expect him to confirm that more hikes are on the way as officials try to bring inflation down from painful highs not seen in four decades.

– Choosing words carefully –

“I have no doubt Powell will have chosen his words very carefully today, all too aware of the consequences of even the smallest deviation in his intended message,” said OANDA trading platform analyst Craig Erlam.

“It’s a little ridiculous that markets put so much weight on such things but that is the situation we are in and I expect the Fed chair will be very clear in the message he wants to send.”

The key issue now is how much the bank will tighten over the coming months, with expectations for a half-point lift next month, after two three-quarter moves in June and July.

Elsewhere, Asia was buoyed by signs of progress in talks between US and Chinese regulators that could see tech titans including Alibaba and JD.com avoid a delisting in New York.

Hong Kong enjoyed a surge in tech shares thanks to news that China-US regulatory talks were progressing.

More than 200 Chinese firms have for months had the threat of a New York delisting hanging over them as they are caught in a wide-ranging row between the world’s two biggest economies.

But reports said Thursday that Beijing had called on top accounting firms to prepare to bring US-listed companies’ audit papers to Hong Kong, to be reviewed by US officials.

US lawmakers set a 2024 deadline for the removal of businesses that do not comply with listing rules and the latest move could provide a big step in avoiding that.

– Key figures at around 1045 GMT –

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,483.55 points

Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.3 percent at 13,227.02

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,364.56

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,666.09

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 28,479.01 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 3.6 percent at 19,968.38 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 3,246.25 (close)

New York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 32,969.23 points (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $0.9982 from $0.9974 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.1792 from $1.1832

Euro/pound: UP at 84.65 pence from 84.31 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 136.94 yen from 136.49 yen

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.5 percent at $93.49 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.1 percent at $100.44

burs/rfj/lth

Finns are being urged to turn down their thermostats this winter, take shorter showers and spend less time in their beloved saunas, as Europe faces an energy crunch following Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The nationwide power saving campaign was announced this week Russia has cut gas supplies to Finland and other European countries in recent months, causing energy prices to soar.

Called “A degree lower”, the campaign will be launched on October 10, Kati Laakso, a spokeswoman at state-owned company Motiva which promotes sustainability, told AFP on Friday.

The company is behind the campaign together with the Finnish government and energy authority.

In addition to lowering their heating and taking shorter showers, Finns will be encouraged to cut back on sauna time. 

With an estimated three million saunas for 5.5 million people, the steam bath is a traditional Finnish institution. Bathers gather together in the nude in temperatures of around 85 degrees Celsius (185F).

With energy prices soaring, the campaign will also urge Finns to spend less time on entertainment electronics, turn off garage heating and save on petrol by driving slower.

“These are just some options. We hope that people will voluntarily follow the recommendations and understand the situation, that we are heading into a difficult winter,” Laakso said.

“Maybe people don’t need to turn on the sauna everyday. Maybe just once a week”, she added. 

This is the first time an energy saving campaign has been introduced in Finland since the 1970s oil crisis.

In May, Russian energy giant Gazprom halted supplies to neighbouring Finland after Helsinki refused to pay its bill in rubles, which Moscow had demanded in a bid to side-step financial sanctions and force European energy clients to prop up its central bank.

In 2021, Gazprom supplied about two thirds of the country’s gas consumption but only eight percent of its total energy use. 

Gasum, Finland’s state-owned energy company, said it would use other sources, such as the Balticconnector pipeline, which links Finland to fellow EU member Estonia.