Street View: Wall Street views Moderna's legal settlement as clearing a major overhang

Moderna MRNA.O has agreed to pay Genevant Sciences, a subsidiary of Roivant Sciences ROIV.O, and Arbutus Biopharma ABUS.O up to $2.25 billion to settle a long-running legal fight over the technology that made its COVID-19 vaccine possible, the companies said on Tuesday

MRNA shares were up over 5% in premarket trading

The settlement resolves all U.S. and international legal actions accusing Moderna of using lipid nanoparticle, a delivery technology owned by Genevant and Arbutus, without permission in its COVID vaccine

POSITIVE CLEARING EVENT

William Blair ("Market Perform") says MRNA is set to move past this litigation overhang as a positive clearing event, while noting multiple factors that will drive growth this year, including multiple trial readouts on cancer drugs

Evercore ISI ("In Line", PT: $35) says the settlement looks manageable and removes a meaningful tail risk, adding that the news is incrementally positive for MRNA

Jefferies ("Hold", PT: $37) views the settlement as removing a catastrophic worst-case scenario of potentially double-digit royalty rates, while expressing confidence in the company's cash outlook going forward

Guggenheim Partners believes the settlement is generally in line with Street expectations and could potentially accelerate the pending Pfizer PFE.N case as well, which has its own patent dispute with MRNA