German company BioNTech has entered into two separate settlement agreements with the US federal agency for medical research and the University of Pennsylvania over the payment of royalties related to its COVID-19 vaccine, the company said in court filings on Friday.

The German company, which partners with US pharma giant Pfizer for its COVID-19 vaccine, said it would pay $791.5 million (€759.2 million) to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the agreement.

Separately, the company will pay $467 million to the University of Pennsylvania in order to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the vaccine maker after the educational institution accused it of underpaying royalties.

BioNTech has taken the license for certain patents from the NIH, among other entities, due to which the US government is owed certain royalty payments.

Penn’s lawsuit said that BioNTech received a sublicense to the school’s technology through another company in 2017, which it later used to develop the vaccine, Comirnaty, with Pfizer.

The BioNTech/Pfizer jab was the first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized by a stringent regulatory authority for emergency use and the first to be approved for regular use.

rm/jsi (Reuters, dpa)