GSK, Moderna settle patent dispute over Moderna COVID, RSV shots

By Blake Brittain

Nov 6 (Reuters) - British drugmaker GSK GSK.L has settled lawsuits that accused Moderna's MRNA.O COVID-19 vaccines Spikevax and mNEXSPIKE and RSV shot mResvia of infringing its patents, the companies said on Friday.

• Moderna said in a Friday press release that it settled GSK's patent litigation in the US and Europe on October 28 and that the companies "granted patent cross-licenses in the field of infectious disease and are not obligated to make payments of any kind in connection with such licenses."

• A GSK spokesperson said the company was "pleased to have reached a resolution that provides clarity for both companies and enables continued focus on advancing innovation for patients."

• The companies asked a Delaware federal court on Friday to dismiss GSK's US infringement claims with prejudice, which means they cannot be refiled

• GSK sued Moderna in 2024 over lipid nanoparticle technology used in the vaccines to transport fragile messenger RNA (mRNA) into the human body

• GSK separately filed a similar lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech over their COVID-19 vaccine earlier that year, which is still ongoing

• The lawsuits are part of a web of US court cases involving Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna over patent royalties for technology used in their COVID vaccines, including one brought by Moderna against Pfizer in 2022