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

By Blake Brittain

Nov 6 (Reuters) - British drugmaker GSK has settled lawsuits that accused Moderna's 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

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi)