Arbutus faces higher bar to argue infringement by Moderna, says Jefferies

Jefferies analyst Dennis Ding notes that Judge Wolson issued summary judgment on three matters in a patent fight between Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS) and Moderna (MRNA). While the analyst says two of the three rulings were in-line with the firm’s thinking going into summary judgment, the judgement in favor of Moderna that Arbutus cannot claim infringement under the “doctrine of equivalents” seemed “interesting” as the Judge basically is implying Arbutus needs to meet a higher bar to prove infringement. However, this “shouldn’t technically change the outcome” since the firm believes Moderna’s LNP components lie within Arbutus’ patented range, the analyst added. The firm has a Buy rating on Arbutus shares and a Hold rating on Moderna.