¶ Arbutus Biopharma
.png)
This page has moved! Click here to view the most up-to-date version of this page on the White Rose Wiki.
Arbutus Biopharma is a Canadian biopharmaceutical company based in Vancouver, British Columbia and Warminster, Pennsylvania. It is the successor to Tekmira Pharmaceuticals.
¶ History
Arbutus was launched in July 2015 through the merger of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and OnCore Biopharma.[1]
In June 2016, Arbutus filed a patent titled “Delivering CRISPR therapeutics with lipid nanoparticles”.[2] The patent was published in April 2020.
In April 2018, Arbutus announced that they were joining forces with the Swiss biotech company Roivant Sciences to launch Genevant Sciences, a jointly-owned venture focused on “the discovery, development, and commercialization of a broad range of RNA-based therapeutics” aiming for “5-10 product candidates into the clinic by 2020.”[3]
¶ COVID-19
In an August 2021 presentation to Vaccine Choice Canada, David Martin said that Justin Trudeau misled the Canadian public by withholding information about the licensing agreements between Acuitas Therapeutics, Arbutus Biopharma, Pfizer and Moderna.[4]
On February 28, 2022, Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences filed a lawsuit against Moderna, accusing the company of seven counts of patent infringement.[5]
The suit alleges that Moderna had licensed Arbutus' lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology for its products, but not specifically for their mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine product. While the companies are seeking financial compensation, they insist they do not intend to halt or otherwise impede the distribution of the product. Moderna denied the allegations, claiming they had created their own proprietary lipid nanoparticle delivery technology for use in their mRNA platform.
On March 10, 2023, U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg rejected a bid by Moderna to dismiss some of the patent infringement claims brought against the company by Arbutus and Genevant Sciences.[6][7]
¶ Organization
Arbutus has sponsored the Hepatitis B Foundation.[8]
¶ Team
| Name | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| David Hastings | Chief Financial Officer[9] | Incyte, ArQule, Sepracor, Unilife, SCYNEXIS, VBL Therapeutics, Entasis Therapeutics |
| Richard Henriques | Independent director[10] | University of Pennsylvania, EMulate Therapeutics, Cabaletta Bio, Franklin Institute, Heritage Conservancy, Episcopal Community Services, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck |
¶ Investors
Investors in Arbutus Biopharma include:[11]
¶ External links
Cutler, A., & Baradarani, H. (2015, July 20). Tekmira announces launch of Arbutus Biopharma, a Hepatitis B solutions company. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. http://archive.today/2022.03.22-200915/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1447028/000117184315003907/newsrelease.htm ↩︎
Lee, A. C. H., & Weber, N. D. (2020, April 21). Delivering CRISPR therapeutics with lipid nanoparticles. Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US10626393B2/en ↩︎
Tolmie, T., & Schull, D. (2018, April 11). Arbutus and Roivant Launch Genevant Sciences with Industry-Leading Platform to Develop Broad Range of RNA Therapeutics for Genetic Diseases. Arbutus Biopharma. https://web.archive.org/web/20230207071630/https://investor.arbutusbio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/arbutus-and-roivant-launch-genevant-sciences-industry-leading ↩︎
Vaccine Choice Canada. (2021, August 21). Dr. David E. Martin drops Shocking Covid Info on Canadians! BitChute. https://web.archive.org/web/20221130214104/https://www.bitchute.com/video/ZUVtNa9xdBnW/ ↩︎
Choi, J. (2022, February 28). Biotech firms allege Moderna hijacked technology to develop COVID-19 vaccine. The Hill. http://archive.today/2022.03.02-223228/https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/596114-biotech-firms-allege-moderna-hijacked-technology-to-develop-covid-19 ↩︎
Stieber, Z. (2023, March 13). Judge Rejects Request From Moderna, Moving Key COVID-19 Vaccine Case to Discovery. The Epoch Times. http://archive.today/2023.03.13-173504/https://www.theepochtimes.com/judge-rejects-request-from-moderna-moving-key-covid-19-vaccine-case-to-discovery_5119082.html ↩︎
Goldberg, M. (2023). Case 1:22-cv-00252-MSG Document 64. Document Cloud; United States District Court for the District of Delaware. https://web.archive.org/web/20230316161451/https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23706145/moderna-covid-19-opinion.pdf ↩︎
Cohen, C. (2023). 2022 Annual Report (pp. 18–21). Hepatitis B Foundation. https://web.archive.org/web/20230314121341/https://www.hepb.org/assets/Uploads/HepB-2022-Annual-Report-v1-2.21.23.pdf ↩︎
David C. Hastings. Arbutus Biopharma. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20231201025848/https://investor.arbutusbio.com/management/david-hastings ↩︎
Richard C. Henriques. Arbutus BioPharma. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://web.archive.org/web/20210926102848/https://investor.arbutusbio.com/board-directors/richard-c-henriques ↩︎
Arbutus Biopharma - Funding, Financials, Valuation & Investors. Crunchbase. Retrieved August 25, 2023, from https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/arbutus-biopharma/company_financials ↩︎