Plaintiff
2 cases as plaintiff.
Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (Nasdaq: ABUS), commonly "Arbutus," is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered at 701 Veterans Circle, Warminster, Pennsylvania. It traces its origins to Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and Protiva Biotherapeutics (spun out of Inex Pharmaceuticals) and was renamed Arbutus Biopharma in 2015. It is publicly traded with no parent corporation, though Roivant Sciences Ltd. (Nasdaq: ROIV) holds a significant minority stake. It is small: roughly 44 employees (MarketWatch), minimal revenue, no product sales, and recurring operating losses per its SEC filings.
Products / operations. Arbutus develops therapies for chronic hepatitis B virus (cHBV). Lead programs are imdusiran (AB-729), a GalNAc-conjugated, subcutaneously delivered RNAi therapeutic in Phase 2 with FDA Fast Track designation, and AB-101, an oral PD-L1 inhibitor. Separately, it holds foundational lipid nanoparticle (LNP) and GalNAc delivery patents, licensed for all non-HBV fields to Genevant Sciences GmbH, a Roivant subsidiary. Arbutus holds roughly 16% of Genevant's parent and a 20% share of enforcement proceeds under a cross-license agreement.
Litigation posture. Arbutus is an operating company and an active two-way litigant, not an NPE. It appears as plaintiff in 2 tracked cases (enforcing LNP patents) and as defendant in 7, reflecting its dual role as a patent owner/licensor and an operating biotech defending its IP estate. Cases cluster in Delaware, SDNY, and D.N.J. — not plaintiff-friendly East Texas venues.
Notable cases. Arbutus/Genevant v. Moderna (D. Del., filed Feb. 2022) settled in March 2026: $950M upfront plus up to $1.3B contingent on the § 1498 appeal, with Moderna consenting to judgments of infringement and no invalidity on four patents; Arbutus received ~$178M in July 2026. The same LNP estate is now asserted against Pfizer/BioNTech (D.N.J., plus UPC and Canadian actions filed July 2026). The Acuitas Therapeutics suits against Genevant/Arbutus and Moderna's PTAB IPR arise from the same LNP technology disputes.
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Arbutus and Genevant sued Moderna and ModernaTX in D. Del. asserting six LNP patents, including 11141378. The case settled March 3, 2026 as part of a $2.25 billion global settlement; Moderna consented to a judgment of infringement and no invalidity on four asserted patents, and the docket terminated March 4, 2026.
Appeal from IPR2018-00680. The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB's final written decision holding all claims of US 9,404,127 unpatentable as inherently anticipated, resulting in cancellation of the '127 claims.