Biontech continues expansion with vaccine development

Biontech's research on infectious diseases is based on messenger nucleic acids, in short, mRNA. For the company Mainz, it is the second transaction in this area in a few months. Already in August, the company entered into an alliance with the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for the development of RNA-based influenza vaccines. Pfizer will pay up to $ 425 million to Biontech, of which $ 120 million will be prepaid. The financial terms of the alliance with Penn Biontech have not, however, been announced.

The Mainz-based company, which has so far been largely funded by Hexal's former owners, Thomas and Andreas Strüngmann, is one of the top three mRNA research companies, Curvac sides of Tübingen and the American company Moderna. Similar to the American rival Moderna, Biontech has also pursued a particularly aggressive expansion strategy in recent years.

With more than 700 employees, the company is now the largest non-publicly traded biotechnology company in Europe. The aim is to establish RNA as a brand new clbad of drugs and to take a leading position in this field as a development partner of major pharmaceutical companies and also as a producer of proprietary pharmaceuticals.

At present, mRNA-based drugs are still in the early stages of clinical development. The proof that they actually agree as drugs or vaccines is still pending. But in recent years, all players have gained greater confidence in their ability to overcome the remaining obstacles.

RNA plays a key role in the metabolism of all cells by ensuring the translation of genetic information into protein. Some researchers therefore speak of a kind of "software of nature".

In principle, it is therefore obvious to use RNA as a drug. Because in theory, cells could be reprogrammed using RNA to produce any protein. Its use as a medicine has failed in the past, but mainly because of the too fast decomposition of the external RNA by the body, which therefore can have no effect. Researchers at Biontech, Curevac and Moderna, however, badume that they can overcome the obstacles with the help of special RNA modifications.

Until now, Biontech has focused primarily on the use of this RNA-based technology for cancer vaccines, called cancer vaccines. The most important development project is a personalized cancer vaccine, which the company is testing in several clinical trials in cooperation with the American company Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche. In addition, there are cooperations with Sanofi, Lilly and the Danish company Genmab, which also deal with the treatment of cancer.

With recent agreements, Biontech is now expanding its activities to infectious diseases. According to founder and CEO Ugur Sahin, the goal is to "create a global immunotherapy company covering a wide range of infectious diseases and cancers".

Biontech is intensifying competition with its competitors Curevac and Moderne, both of whom have been studying infectious diseases for a long time. Curevac entered into an alliance four years ago with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Vaccine Development. In this context, the founder of Microsoft founder also joined Curevac.

Modern has long been working with US pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co on mRNA vaccines and is already testing several products during clinical trials. Let's hope that mRNA-based vaccines have the potential to be more effective and that they are theoretically easier and faster to produce.

Biontech now hopes to level the advantage of its competitors in the field by collaborating with Drew Weissman's research group at the University of Pennsylvania. Drew and his group lead the development of new vaccine concepts, says Sahin.

The US group of researchers is expected to advance the preclinical development of up to ten new candidate vaccines, for which Biontech will then be able to acquire exclusive licenses. "The collaboration fits perfectly into our innovation strategy aimed at developing effective agents that meet an unmet medical need."