Moderna loses US government license defense in Northwestern patent case

Moderna

01/10/2026 16:20

By Blake Brittain
Oct 1 (Reuters) - A Delaware federal judge has rejected Moderna's MRNA.O argument that the US government's license to patents from federally funded research should shield the company from allegations that vaccines sold to the government infringe Northwestern University's patents.
US District Judge Campbell Barker said on Wednesday that the relevant law, the Bayh-Dole Act, does not create a defense for non-government parties like Moderna
The court did not rule on Northwestern's infringement claims or some of Moderna's other defenses, including its argument that Northwestern must sue the federal government over COVID-19 shots that Moderna sold to the government
Spokespeople for Moderna and Northwestern did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision on Thursday
Evanston, Illinois-based Northwestern filed the lawsuit in 2024, alleging Moderna misused its lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology in vaccines including its blockbuster COVID-19 shot Spikevax
The case is part of a web of high-stakes patent lawsuits involving Moderna, Pfizer and others over the LNP technology used in COVID-19 shots to transport messenger RNA into the human body
Northwestern said its researchers pioneered the use of LNPs to deliver mRNA into human cells in 2009 and 2010
The case is Northwestern University v. Moderna Inc, US District Court for the District of Delaware, No. 1:24-cv-01151
For Northwestern: Rebecca Horwitz of Bartlit Beck
For Moderna: Amy Wigmore of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr
     
Read more:
Northwestern sues Moderna for patent infringement over COVID-19 vaccines

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
((blake.brittain@tr.com; +1 (202) 938-5713))