Biontech and Pfizer to produce 2.5 billion vaccine doses by the end of the year

The Mainz-based start-up has presented its business figures for 2020: Turnover was 482 million euros, research and development costs rose to 645 million euros.

If there's a winner in this Corona pandemic, it's pharmaceutical companies like Mainz-based Biontech, which developed the first mRNA-based vaccine against the Covid-19 virus with U.S.-based Pfizer. Now Biontech has presented its figures for the past year.

Sales increased by 374 million euros to 482 million euros, this mainly includes first payments for the agreed deliveries of the vaccine. This will remain a focus for the Mainz-based company in the coming years: "We will continue to focus on innovations in the field of COVID-19 research," says Ugur Sahin, CEO of Biontech. And further explains, "We see a tremendous opportunity in reinvesting revenue from our COVID-19 vaccine into research." In addition to developing the Corona vaccine, Biontech is primarily working on various immunotherapies for the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. In oncology, 14 trials are currently underway with 13 potential therapies, and the startup expects new results before the end of 2021.

Biontech announced plans to ramp up the number of vaccine doses delivered worldwide to 2.5 billion by the end of 2021. As of mid-March 2021, 200 million doses have been delivered, and Biontech has signed with its collaboration partner Pfizer to deliver 1.4 billion orders to date. The European Commission originally agreed 500 million doses of vaccine for the EU, with an option for a further 100 million doses.