On Dec. 27, 2024, BioNTech announced it had entered into two separate settlement agreements with the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the University of Pennsylvania over the payment of royalties related to its COVID-19 vaccine. The German company, which partners with U.S. drugmaker Pfizer for its COVID-19 vaccine, said it would pay $791.5 million to the U.S. agency to resolve a default notice.

Separately, the company will pay $467 million to the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), which has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the vaccine maker accusing it of underpaying royalties. BioNTech said partner Pfizer will reimburse it for up to $170 million of the royalties payable to Penn and $364.5 million of the royalties paid to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 2020-2023 vaccine sales.