Company: ABUS
Filing Date: 2025-08-06
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0001447028-25-000115
Chunk: 44

Company: Arbutus Biopharma Corp
Filing Date: 2025-08-06
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 1
Chunk 44
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 2023, we filed patent infringement lawsuits in the United States against Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, respectively, seeking compensation for their unlicensed use of our patented technologies in their COVID-19 mRNA-LNP vaccines. It is well established in the scientific literature that the most significant technological hurdle to developing and deploying medicines using mRNA is engineering a safe and effective way to deliver the mRNA to human cells. Scientists at Arbutus and Genevant have spent years developing and refining LNP delivery technology, which has been licensed for various applications to many different third parties. Our and Genevant’s LNP technology relies on microscopic particles built from four carefully selected types of fat-like molecules to shelter and protect ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules. With this technology, the RNA can travel through the human body to a target cell and through the target cell’s membrane before releasing the RNA. Without this crucial delivery technology, the RNA would quickly degrade in the body and be ineffective. We remain committed to taking all legal actions necessary to defend and protect our intellectual property.

20

With respect to the Moderna lawsuit in the United States, the court provided its claim construction ruling in April 2024 in which it construed the disputed claim terms and agreed with our position on most of the disputed claim terms. The summary judgment phase of the case began in July 2025 and a trial date has been set for March 2026. In March 2025, we, along with Genevant, filed five international lawsuits against Moderna in connection with Moderna’s use of our LNP technology in Moderna’s COVID-19 mRNA-LNP vaccines and, in the Unified Patent Court, also other Moderna products that use the same LNP technology, including Moderna’s RSV vaccines. The first major hearings in the international lawsuits are expected in the first half of calendar year 2026. With respect to the Pfizer/BioNTech lawsuit, the claim construction hearing occurred in December 2024, and fact discovery is ongoing. The court has not provided guidance for the timing of its ruling in the claim construction hearing, which could potentially come in 2025.  

cHBV programs

Our current HBV strategy is to develop a functional cure for patients with cHBV infection with imdusiran as a potential cornerstone in a combination therapy. We believe that a combination of compounds that can suppress hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid (HBV DNA) replication and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) expression, as well