April 25 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline sued

Pfizer ( PFE ) and BioNTech in Delaware federal court

on Thursday, accusing them of infringing GSK patents related to

messenger RNA (mRNA) technology in the companies' blockbuster

COVID-19 vaccines.

GSK said in the lawsuit that Pfizer ( PFE ) and BioNTech's Comirnaty

vaccines violate the company's patent rights in mRNA-vaccine

innovations developed "more than a decade before" the outbreak

of the COVID-19 pandemic.