By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) -Moderna Inc may face a lawsuit for patent infringement over COVID-19 after a Federal Appeal Court rejected Wednesday’s challenge to Arbutus Biopharma patents (NASDAQ:) Corp.

Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals allowed an administrative panel to find that Arbutus patents which could cover vaccine technology were not evident in light of prior science, and therefore are valid.

Arbutus shares rose $1.63 or 51% to $4.83, a gain of $5.83 Moderna Stocks in (NASDAQ) dropped almost 9%, to $321.15

Moderna and Arbutus didn’t immediately reply to our requests for comment.

Moderna had previously stated that it was confident Arbutus would bring suit to recover royalties for its COVID-19 vaccination if they were upheld.

For its COVID-19 vaccine, it forecasts 2021 sales in the range of $15 billion to $18billion and 2022 sales in the range of $17 billion through $22billion.

The patents are based on so-called “lipid nanoparticles” that contain the genetic material known as messengerRNA (mRNA) in vaccines. It could also prove to be useful in the development of future mRNA-based treatments for other ailments.

Moderna challenged the patents initially before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board. It is part of federal patent office. Moderna won the case against the patents before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which is part of the federal patent office. However, the Federal Circuit sided with Arbutus.