BioNTech - Wikipedia

BioNTech SE () is a German biotechnology company that develops and manufactures active immunotherapies for patient-specific approaches to the treatment of diseases. It develops pharmaceutical candidates based on messenger RNA (mRNA) for use as individualized cancer immunotherapies, as vaccines against infectious diseases and as protein replacement therapies for rare diseases, and also engineered cell therapy, novel antibodies and small molecule immunomodulators as treatment options for cancer. The company developed an mRNA-based human therapeutic for intravenous administration to bring individualized mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy to clinical trials and to establish its own manufacturing process.[2]

BioNTech headquarters in An der Goldgrube street,

Mainz

In 2020, the company's lead vaccine candidate for preventing COVID-19 infections, BNT2b2, was in Phase III clinical trials in the United States.[3]

History Edit

BioNTech was founded in 2008 in Mainz, Germany, by Turkish[4]-German scientists Uğur Şahin, and Özlem Türeci, with the Austrian oncologist Christoph Huber.[5] It has been supported by a scientific advisory board under the direction of Rolf M. Zinkernagel.[2]

In August 2018, the company announced that it had entered into a multi-year research and development (R&D) collaboration with the US company Pfizer Inc. to develop mRNA-based vaccines for prevention of influenza.[6] Under the terms of the agreement, following BioNTech’s completion of a first in human clinical study, Pfizer would assume sole responsibility for further clinical development and commercialization of mRNA-based flu vaccines.

In September 2019, it signed an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop HIV and tuberculosis programs to identify and develop preclinical vaccine and immunotherapy candidates for the prevention of HIV and tuberculosis infections and for the long-term antiretroviral therapy-free remission of HIV diseases.[7]

In June 2020, BioNTech received €250 million from Singapore's Temasek Holdings and other investors through a private placement of mandatory convertible bonds.[8]

COVID-19 response Edit

The company is working to develop the BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 with Pfizer[9] and Fosun.[10][11]

BioNTech and Pfizer signed contracts to supply 300 million doses of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for the European Union,[12] 30 million doses for the United Kingdom,[13][14] 100 million doses for the United States[15] and 120 million doses for Japan,[16] if proven safe.

References Edit

  1. ^ "BioNTech SE, Investors and Media". BioNTech SE. 2020 . Retrieved 10 November 2020 .
  2. ^ a b Form F-1 BioNTech SE (Report). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 9 September 2019 . Retrieved 13 October 2019 .
  3. ^ "Covid vaccine: First 'milestone' vaccine offers 90% protection". BBC News. 2020-11-09 . Retrieved 2020-11-11 .
  4. ^ "Turkish Germans raise new Covid vaccine hopes". BBC News 10 Nov. 2020 . Retrieved 13 November 2020 .
  5. ^ "German 'Dream Team' Behind Vaccine". The Guardian (US Edition) 12 Nov. 2020 . Retrieved 12 November 2020 .
  6. ^ "BioNTech Signs Collaboration Agreement with Pfizer to Develop mRNA-based Vaccines for Prevention of Influenza". 16 August 2018 . Retrieved 12 November 2020 .
  7. ^ "The Gates Foundation sees BioNTech potential to 'dramatically reduce global HIV and tuberculosis ' ". The Pharma Letter. 5 September 2019 . Retrieved 20 September 2019 .
  8. ^ Burger, Ludwig (29 June 2020). "Temasek-led investor group in $250 million vaccine bet on Germany's BioNTech". Reuters. Frankfurt . Retrieved 2 August 2020 .
  9. ^ Lovelace Jr., Berkeley (27 July 2020). "Pfizer and BioNTech began late-stage human trial for coronavirus vaccine Monday". CNBC . Retrieved 2 August 2020 .
  10. ^ "BioNTech in China alliance with Fosun over coronavirus vaccine candidate". Reuters. Frankfurt. 15 March 2020 . Retrieved 2 August 2020 .
  11. ^ Burger, Ludwig (22 April 2020). "Germany approves trials of COVID-19 vaccine candidate". Reuters. Berlin . Retrieved 2 August 2020 .
  12. ^ "Coronavirus: EU buys 300m doses of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine". BBC News. United Kingdom. 11 November 2020 . Retrieved 12 November 2020 .
  13. ^ Gallagher, James (20 July 2020). "Coronavirus vaccine: UK government signs deals for 90 million doses". BBC News . Retrieved 2 August 2020 .
  14. ^ Smout, Alistair (20 July 2020). "Britain secures 90 million possible COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer/BioNTech, Valneva". Reuters. London . Retrieved 2 August 2020 .
  15. ^ Erman, Michael; Banerjee, Ankur (22 July 2020). "U.S. to pay Pfizer, BioNTech $1.95 billion for COVID-19 vaccine". Reuters . Retrieved 2 August 2020 .
  16. ^ Shakil, Ismail; Mishra, Manas (31 July 2020). "Pfizer, BioNTech to supply 120 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Japan". Reuters. Bengaluru . Retrieved 3 August 2020 .

External links Edit

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioNTech