{"id":1964,"date":"2026-03-05T16:48:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/05\/moderna-to-pay-us950-million-to-settle-covid-19-vaccine-patent-dispute\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:48:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:48:43","slug":"moderna-to-pay-us950-million-to-settle-covid-19-vaccine-patent-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/05\/moderna-to-pay-us950-million-to-settle-covid-19-vaccine-patent-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Moderna to Pay US$950 Million to Settle COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) has agreed to pay US$950 million to resolve a long-running patent dispute tied to the technology used in its COVID-19 vaccine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The pharmaceuticals giant announced it has reached a global settlement with Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) and Genevant Sciences GmbH over claims that Moderna\u2019s vaccines infringed patents related to lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology.<\/p>\n

The tiny fat-based particles are used to transport mRNA vaccines into human cells.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Moderna will make a lump-sum payment of US$950 million in the third quarter of 2026 and will not owe royalties on existing or future vaccines. The settlement resolves all litigation worldwide involving the companies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The case had centered on allegations that Moderna used LNP technology owned by Arbutus and Genevant in its COVID-19 shot without authorization. <\/p>\n

Moderna CEO St\u00e9phane Bancel said the settlement clears the path for the company to focus on its pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cResolving this legacy matter from our pandemic response removes uncertainty and allows us to turn our full focus to Moderna\u2019s exciting near-term future,\u201d Bancel said in a company statement.<\/p>\n

Moderna also said it will continue pursuing an appeal related to its claim of government-contractor immunity under US law, which could further limit its liability. <\/p>\n

If the Federal Circuit Court ultimately rules against the company on that issue, Moderna could be required to make an additional payment of up to US$1.3 billion within 90 days of the decision. The company said it has not recorded any additional charge tied to that possibility because it does not consider the loss probable.<\/p>\n

The company expects to record a US$950 million charge in the first quarter of 2026 tied to the settlement payment.<\/p>\n

Despite the payout, Moderna said it expects to end 2026 with between US$4.5 billion and US$5 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Including access to its credit facility, the company estimates total available liquidity of between US$5.4 billion and US$5.9 billion.<\/p>\n

Investors responded positively to the resolution of the dispute, which analysts said removes a major uncertainty hanging over the company. Shares of Moderna rose by as much as 10 percent in premarket trading after the announcement, while Arbutus shares declined<\/p>\n

While the agreement resolves Moderna\u2019s dispute with Arbutus and Genevant, the company remains involved in other intellectual property litigation. <\/p>\n

Moderna has ongoing legal claims against Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) related to mRNA technology used in competing COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on investingnews.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) has agreed to pay US$950 million to resolve a long-running patent dispute tied to the technology used in its COVID-19 vaccine. The pharmaceuticals giant announced it has reached a global settlement with Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) and Genevant Sciences GmbH over claims that Moderna\u2019s vaccines infringed patents related to lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incomeresearchers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}