The vaccine that’s helped protect millions of people worldwide from the COVID-19 virus and its variants would not have been possible without research done in the Chicago area at Northwestern University.

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.

Northwestern University has filed a lawsuit against Moderna, alleging the company used its patented lipid nanoparticle technology without permission in the development of its COVID-19 vaccines.

The Evanston college claims Moderna could not have developed the vaccine as quickly as it did in 2020 without its own researchers' technological breakthroughs.

Northwestern University sued vaccine maker Moderna, Inc. on Wednesday, October 16, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging infringement of three patents the school says cover technology key to the delivery method for Moderna’s groundbreaking messenger-RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine.

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.

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

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.