Moderna loses bid to invalidate Arbutus patent
Biotech company Moderna has failed to have a US patent owned by its competitor Arbutus Biopharma revoked, following a decision handed down by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) yesterday, July 23.
Moderna filed the suit because Arbutus’ US patent, number 8,058,069, potentially poses an obstacle to its efforts to develop vaccines, according to a report by Reuters.
Moderna has been granted $483 million from the US government to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
However, Moderna has claimed that the formula used in developing a COVID-19 vaccine was not covered under patents owned by Arbutus Biopharma. According to a later Reuters story, Moderna stated the court’s ruling relates to actions it took in response to the “long-standing aggressive posture” taken by Arbutus against its rivals, which began prior to developing its COVID-19 vaccine.
In January 2019, Moderna filed a petition with the PTAB requesting an inter partes review of the patent, which relates to lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology that allows the human body to make its own therapeutic proteins, a technology Moderna uses to make its vaccines.
Moderna, relied upon the testimony of Andrew Janoff, a pharmaceutical consultant and chairman and CEO at Xiconic Pharmaceuticals, and contended that the patent was invalid because it outlined obvious concepts.
The biotch company claimed that Arbutus had "overlapping claims" in unrelated patent families, and it had improperly extended its patent protection, preventing other companies from using the technology that was well established before this particular patent was created.
In its final written decision, however, the PTAB rejected Moderna’s arguments, upholding all 22 claims of the patent.The board stated: “The petitioner has not demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that claims 1–22 of the ’069 patent would have been anticipated or obvious based on the challenges presented in the petition.”
Moderna can still appeal the ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. According to Reuters, Moderna’s stock fell by nearly 10% following the decision.
