Moderna agrees to pay up to $2.25 billion to settle COVID vaccine patent dispute
March 3 (Reuters) – Moderna has agreed to pay Genevant Sciences, a subsidiary of Roivant Sciences, and Arbutus Biopharma up to $2.25 billion to settle a long-running legal battle over the technology that made its COVID-19 vaccine possible, the companies said on Tuesday.
As part of the deal, Moderna will pay $950 million up front in July 2026, with an additional $1.3 billion contingent on the outcome of a separate legal appeal.
In extended trading, shares of Moderna jumped more than 10%, Arbutus rose 11%, while Roivant rose about 1%.
The agreement ends all U.S. and international lawsuits accusing Moderna of using lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, a delivery technology owned by Genevant and Arbutus, without authorization in its COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax.
LNP technology “acts like a tiny protective shell that helps fragile mRNA molecules reach human cells intact, a key component that allows mRNA vaccines to work.”
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bangalore; editing by Alan Barona)
