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Moderna loses bid to shift liability in COVID-19 vaccine patent case

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) – Despite the backing of the U.S. government, Moderna Inc on Friday failed to persuade a federal judge it should not have to face a patent lawsuit over its COVID-19 vaccine and that the United States should have been sued instead.

U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg ruled for the second time that Moderna had not yet shown that the government was the proper target of a lawsuit by Arbutus Biopharma Corp and Genevant Sciences GmbH.

A spokesperson for Genevant declined to comment on the decision. Representatives for Moderna, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

Warminster Township, Pennsylvania-based Arbutus and Genevant — a joint venture between Arbutus and Roivant Sciences Ltd — sued Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna for patent infringement last year, seeking royalties from…
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