GlaxoSmithKline is suing Moderna for allegedly using technology patented by GSK in its COVID-19 vaccine. Why it matters: It's the latest in a series of legal fights over who owns the intellectual property behind mRNA technology and whether some companies are entitled to royalties on future sales.

British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline sued Moderna in U.S. federal court in Delaware on Tuesday, accusing its American rival of violating GSK's patent rights in messenger RNA (mRNA) technology with its blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax.

The Mandl team was originally employed by Novartis, but GSK acquired rights to their work and intellectual property when it acquired Novartis' global vaccine business in 2015. Only by tapping into this earlier work was Moderna able to bring its mRNA vaccines to market so swiftly, the suits claim.

A British drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has sued American pharmaceutical company Moderna claiming it violated patent rights in its mRNA technology used to develop its COVID-19 and RSV vaccines.

The pharma’s lawsuit focuses on scientific work that helped clear the path for creating mRNA vaccines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly six months after lodging a similar complaint against Pfizer and BioNTech over the partners’ COVID shot Comirnaty, GSK is targeting Moderna in a pair of lawsuits alleging the Massachusetts-ba | GSK is targeting Moderna in a pair of lawsuits claiming the mRNA specialist violated multiple patents with its vaccines Spikevax and mRESVIA.

Moderna was hit with a new patent lawsuit on Wednesday in Delaware federal court from Northwestern University, which accused the company of misusing the school's innovations to develop its blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax.

The lawsuits claim that Moderna used and profited from crucial mRNA technology in its COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax and respiratory syncytial virus shot mResvia.

GSK filed two lawsuits at the US District of Delaware on 15 October saying that Moderna’s mRNA vaccine product Spikevax infringed up to seven patents covering lipid mRNA vaccine formulation technology. It is also suing Moderna for infringing the same mRNA technology through the sale of its recently approved RSV shot mResvia.