Moderna has agreed to pay up to $2.25bn to settle a patent infringement lawsuit with Genevant and Arbutus, ending a prolonged legal battle between the companies.
The Massachusetts-based pharma has chosen to settle the score just before a jury was set to weigh in on a patent infringement lawsuit by Roivant subsidiary, Genevant and biotech Arbutus. The suit alleged that Moderna used Genevant and Arbutus’ lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology in its mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine, Spikevax, without authorisation.
Through this deal, Moderna will pay $950m upfront, with the potential for a $1.3bn payment if the US Court of Federal Claims does not uphold Moderna’s Section 1498 appeal. However, a 3 March statement deemed it “not probable” that Moderna will pay these added charges.
This now ends all litigation between the companies, while granting Moderna a non-exclusive license to use Genevant & Arbutus' LNP delivery technology for infectious disease applications.
This development comes amid Genevant’s similar legal battle with Pfizer and BioNTech, in which the former alleges that the two pharma companies used its LNP technology in their co-developed Covid jab, Comirnaty.
In recent years, Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech have also been in a legal back-and-forth around patents protecting their respective mRNA technologies, with the companies filing lawsuits across the globe claiming the other had infringed its IP. In 2022, Moderna filed lawsuits in the US and Germany against Pfizer and BioNtech, while Pfizer and BioNTech hit back in 2024 by opening a similar lawsuit in London’s High Court.
Moderna faces bumpy road back to profitability
In a recent statement, Moderna’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, noted that the resolution of this legacy matter “removes uncertainty” while allowing the company to place full focus on its near-term future. Bancel added that the company expects to return to revenue growth in 2026 – ending the year with “more than $5bn” in cash.
Bancel’s statement comes amid Moderna’s efforts to set itself up for future success, with the company aiming to break even in 2028. In Q4 2025, Moderna posted a net loss of $826m, which was partially driven by the declining sales of its Covid-19 vaccine portfolio and the shifting policy around vaccine usage in the US.
Moderna has also faced challenges in gaining approval for its pipeline products, as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) originally declined to review its seasonal influenza vaccine, mRNA-1010, amid trial design concerns. The agency later reversed this decision, making the call to review Moderna’s application for mRNA-1010 separately in the 50-64 and 65+ age categories.
It was a similar story for Moderna’s Covid-flu combination jab, mCOMBRIAX, as the FDA said that it would require evidence on the effectiveness of the vaccine’s influenza portion to approve it. This prompted the pharma company to pull its Biologics License Application (BLA) for the jab, which it is yet to resubmit.
In a bid to improve its commercial outlook over the next few years, Bancel has said he plans to pivot the company’s focus to oncology and rare disease due to the volatility of the US vaccine landscape.
