Moderna says patent ruling not to affect COVID-19 vaccine development

Reuters

Published Jul 24, 2020 21:55

(Reuters) - Moderna Inc (O:MRNA) said on Friday its formula used in developing a COVID-19 vaccine was not covered under patents owned by Arbutus Biopharma (O:ABUS).

An administrative court run by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday rejected Moderna's arguments to invalidate a U.S. patent owned by Arbutus, sparking worries over its efforts to develop next-generation vaccines, including a coronavirus vaccine. [nL3N2EU3UL]

Moderna said the court's ruling relates to actions it took in response to "longstanding aggressive posture" taken by Arbutus against developers of nucleic acid-based therapeutics and began well before the development of mRNA-1273, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.