Moderna

Rule Changes

Settled; appealing government-contractor defense to Federal Circuit

For four years, the question of whether Moderna owed billions for technology at the heart of its COVID-19 vaccine hung over the company. Less than a week before a jury trial was set to begin in Delaware, Moderna agreed to pay up to $2.25 billion to settle patent claims brought by Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences—accepting a court judgment that it infringed four patents and that those patents are valid. If the full amount is paid, it would be the largest disclosed patent settlement in pharmaceutical history, surpassing a $2.15 billion Pfizer-Takeda settlement in 2013.

Updated Mar 4

New Capabilities

Developing mRNA-based norovirus vaccine (Phase 3)

For nearly six decades, human norovirus has defied laboratory cultivation—making it impossible to develop effective vaccines against a pathogen that sickens 700 million people annually. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have now broken that barrier. By blocking chemokine signaling with a drug called TAK-779, the team achieved 10 to 15 consecutive rounds of viral replication in lab-grown human intestinal tissue, enabling production of stable virus stocks for the first time.

Updated Feb 5

New Capabilities

Phase 3 trials for mRNA cancer vaccines

Metastatic breast cancer typically kills most patients within five years. A small group of women vaccinated in a Duke University clinical trial two decades ago have defied that prognosis entirely—all remain alive today. Researchers discovered these survivors still carry specialized immune cells capable of recognizing their cancer, pointing to a mechanism that could make therapeutic cancer vaccines work reliably.

Updated Jan 31

New Capabilities

Co-developer of mRNA-4157/V940 cancer vaccine

Cancer vaccines have promised to train the immune system against tumors for decades. None has delivered a durable, replicable benefit—until now. On January 20, 2026, Moderna and Merck reported that their personalized mRNA vaccine, combined with the immunotherapy Keytruda, cut the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% at five years in a Phase 2b trial of 157 patients. The sustained result—identical to the three-year mark—suggests the vaccine permanently reprograms immune surveillance rather than offering temporary protection.

Updated Jan 25

New Capabilities

Providing mRNA platform and manufacturing for G004 trial

In 1984, the U.S. Health Secretary predicted an HIV vaccine within two years. Four decades and dozens of failed trials later, IAVI has begun dosing participants in South Africa with a vaccine built on an entirely different principle—one that attempts to train the immune system from the ground up rather than simply presenting it with viral proteins. The IAVI G004 trial, which began vaccinations in December 2025, represents the fourth step in a sequential vaccination strategy that has already demonstrated proof-of-concept in humans.

Updated Jan 22