Plaintiff
6 cases as plaintiff.
Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held Canadian biotechnology company headquartered at 6190 Agronomy Road, Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in February 2009 by Drs. Thomas Madden, Michael Hope and Pieter Cullis (originally incorporated as AlCana Technologies Inc.) and remains independent, with no public ticker and no disclosed parent (acuitastx.com, "About Us"; company backgrounder). CEO is co-founder Thomas Madden. Employee and revenue figures are not publicly disclosed; the company has appeared on Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers lists, and third-party trackers (Growjo, SignalHire, Kona Equity) give inconsistent estimates ranging from roughly 20 to 200 employees and $4M–$50M revenue, so no reliable size figure can be stated. The company reported acquiring a majority stake in RNA T&T in January 2026.
Acuitas is an operating company, not a non-practicing entity. It develops and licenses lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics — proprietary ionizable lipids (including ALC-0315), LNP formulations, targeted LNPs and its "preformed vesicle" loading technology. It does not sell drugs itself; it partners with pharma and biotech licensees. Its LNP enabled Pfizer/BioNTech's COMIRNATY COVID-19 vaccine, Alnylam's ONPATTRO, and clinical programs in gene editing, epigenetic medicines, multivalent and cancer vaccines, and in vivo CAR-T (company materials; pharmaboardroom.com interview).
Reflecting that model, all nine tracked cases list Acuitas as plaintiff and zero as defendant — but these are largely defensive declaratory-judgment actions to shield its licensees rather than a patent-monetization campaign. Venues are the Southern District of New York and the District of New Jersey; none are in plaintiff-friendly districts such as the Eastern District of Texas.
The core dispute is Acuitas Therapeutics Inc. v. Genevant Sciences GmbH et al. Filed in SDNY on 18 March 2022, it sought declarations that Arbutus Biopharma-owned, Genevant-licensed LNP patents are not infringed by COMIRNATY and are invalid, after Arbutus/Genevant sent infringement notices to Pfizer/BioNTech; defendants moved to dismiss for lack of declaratory-judgment jurisdiction. A later action (D.N.J., filed 4 August 2023, No. 3:23-cv-04200) added infringement claims after BioNTech issued indemnification notices to Acuitas. Contextually, Arbutus/Genevant separately sued Moderna (D. Del., 2022) and Pfizer/BioNTech (D.N.J., April 2023) over the same LNP technology; an earlier Acuitas–Arbutus/Tekmira dispute settled in February 2018 following a 2013 cross-license agreement.
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Acuitas refiled its declaratory-judgment action against Genevant and Arbutus in D.N.J. on August 4, 2023, again seeking declarations that Comirnaty does not infringe and that ten Arbutus patents are invalid. The narrative could not verify the D.N.J. case number; a possible 3:23-cv-04200 identification was expressly treated as unverified.
Acuitas filed a declaratory-judgment action against Genevant and Arbutus in the Southern District of New York concerning Comirnaty; US 8,822,668 was among the patents at issue. The action was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on August 4, 2023, and Acuitas refiled in New Jersey.
Acuitas filed a declaratory-judgment action for non-infringement and invalidity against Genevant and Arbutus in S.D.N.Y., challenging nine Arbutus patents including 11141378. The action was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on August 4, 2023.
Acuitas filed a declaratory judgment action in S.D.N.Y. on March 18, 2022 against Genevant and Arbutus, seeking declarations that Comirnaty does not infringe and that nine Arbutus/Genevant patents, expressly including U.S. 8,058,069, are invalid. Acuitas voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on Aug. 4, 2023; the case terminated Aug. 7, 2023, and Acuitas refiled in D.N.J.
Acuitas Therapeutics filed a declaratory judgment action for non-infringement and invalidity against Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences regarding the Arbutus patent estate, with US 9,518,272 listed among the patents flagged for the docket. The case was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on August 4, 2023, and Acuitas refiled in New Jersey.
Acuitas filed a declaratory-judgment action in S.D.N.Y. seeking declarations that Comirnaty does not infringe and nine Arbutus/Genevant patents are invalid; the '320 patent was identified in a June 3, 2022 notice. After a motion to dismiss, Acuitas amended and then voluntarily dismissed the action and refiled in D.N.J.