Company: ABUS
Filing Date: 2025-08-06
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0001447028-25-000115
Chunk: 88

Company: Arbutus Biopharma Corp
Filing Date: 2025-08-06
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 2
Chunk 88
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 its entirety for all contracting states. We filed a response to Moderna and Merck’s oppositions in September 2018 and a hearing was conducted before the Opposition Division of the EPO in October 2019. At the conclusion of the hearing, the EPO upheld an auxiliary request adopting the amendment, as put forth by us, of certain claims of the ’254 Patent. In February 2020, Moderna and Merck filed Notices of Appeal challenging the EPO’s grant of the auxiliary request. We filed our responses to the appeals in September 2020. In March 2022, Moderna filed further written submissions to which we and Genevant responded in August 2022. In April 2023, we and Genevant withdrew our auxiliary request, however, the original (main) request remains in the action. We and Moderna informed the Board of Appeals that we would not object to a remittance of the matter without a hearing to the Opposition Division of the EPO. The hearing in this matter before the Board of Appeals was subsequently cancelled and resubmitted to the Opposition Division (i.e., lower board) of the EPO. In October 2023, the Opposition Division issued a summons for oral proceedings and provided its preliminary and non-binding opinion on the subject matter to be discussed at the hearing. In November 2023, we responded to the summons and in January 2024, Moderna and Merck filed their reply to the written opinion of the Opposition Division, as well as to our written submission from November 2023. We responded to Moderna and Merck’s reply in April 2024. Oral proceedings were held in June 2024, and the Opposition Division upheld the ’254 Patent but declined our and Genevant’s request to broaden certain claims in the ’254 Patent. Both parties appealed the Opposition Division’s decision and in March 2025, the Board of Appeals scheduled oral proceedings for January 2026.

On April 29, 2025, Moderna filed a revocation action on EPO patent EP 4 241 767 (the ’767 patent) with the EPO, requesting that the patent be revoked in its entirety for all contracting states.  Moderna submitted its opposition brief in July 2025 and we are currently preparing our response.

While we are the patent owner, the ’254 Patent, the ’767 Patent, and the other patents in our LNP portfolio have been licensed to Genevant under the Genevant License.

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CRITICAL