GSK has won a significant patent victory against Pfizer and BioNTech after a European court ruled that the companies' Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine infringes a GSK patent covering the delivery of RNA in vaccines. The Hague local division of the Unified Patent Court handed down the ruling on Tuesday, in a case that could shape how vaccine makers license RNA technology across Europe.

The court found that Comirnaty infringes European patent EP 2 590 626, which protects liposomes made with lipids that have an advantageous pKa value for delivering RNA into cells. The judges upheld the patent almost in full, revoking only one claim, after the remaining claims survived all five invalidity attacks brought by the defendants, according to reporting of the ruling.

A wide injunction, but enforcement is deferred

The court granted an injunction covering all European Patent Convention countries where the patent is valid, with the exception of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The scope reflects the court's developing long-arm jurisdiction, which allows a single Unified Patent Court division to restrain infringement across many countries at once.

However, the injunction will not take effect immediately. The judges postponed enforcement until the court has reached a final decision on the patent's validity, and it will only bite if Pfizer and BioNTech fail to agree a licence with GSK within three months of that decision. As Innovox reported, GSK must also file a further enforcement notice before the injunction can operate.

The court ordered Pfizer and BioNTech to pay interim damages of 2 million euros and to provide detailed sales information going back to January 2020. The case value was set at 50 million euros. The judges noted that GSK is not seeking to keep Comirnaty off the market, but is pursuing monetary compensation as a patent holder that does not itself make the vaccine.

Appeals and further cases are still to come

The ruling is unlikely to be the end of the dispute. Pfizer and BioNTech can appeal within two months and have already filed a revocation action at the UK High Court, alongside parallel proceedings in Ireland. Two further GSK patents, covering related RNA technology, remain pending before the Hague division.

The decision comes shortly after GSK settled a separate vaccine patent dispute with Moderna. Reuters reported last week that the two companies reached a settlement on 28 October covering Moderna's Spikevax, mNEXSPIKE and RSV vaccine mResvia, with the companies agreeing to license patents to each other.

What it means for investors

GSK shares rose on Thursday and beat the wider market as investors digested the patent news. For the FTSE 100 drugmaker, the ruling strengthens its hand in licensing talks over RNA delivery technology, an area that has become central to modern vaccine development. Any licence agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech would give GSK a financial return from one of the world's most widely used Covid vaccines without disrupting its supply.

For Pfizer and BioNTech, the immediate commercial impact is limited, since the injunction cannot be enforced until a final decision and a further three-month licensing window have passed. But the ruling adds to the legal pressure on the two companies, which must now weigh the cost of an appeal against the terms of a licence. With further GSK patents still before the court, the dispute over who owns the building blocks of RNA vaccines is far from over.