On Monday, BioNTech announced revenues of €5.308 billion (about $6.2 billion) for the quarter.
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BioNTech and Pfizer hit a significant milestone in the ongoing battle against the pandemic. The two companies have shipped more than one billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine across the globe. The success of the vaccine has contributed to a successful three-month financial reporting period for the Germany-based company.
On Monday, BioNTech announced revenues of €5.308 billion (about $6.2 billion) for the quarter. That’s a significant improvement over the €41.7 million from one year ago. BioNTech said the financial boost is largely due to the success of the COVID-19 vaccine. And the vaccine will continue to contribute to the company’s bottom line due to continued deals to supply the medication over the next few years. The company has signed agreement to deliver approximately 2.2 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021, and at least another 1 billion doses in 2022.
Some of these doses could be used in booster programs. The company is conducting a clinical study assessing a third dose as a means to prolong immunity against the COVID-19 virus and its variants. While BioNTech and Pfizer believe a third dose of the vaccine has the “potential to preserve the highest levels of protective efficacy against all currently tested variants, including Delta,” the companies said they remain vigilant and are developing an updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine that targets the full spike protein of the Delta variant.
Ugur Sahin, chief executive officer of BioNTech, said the company is proud to have reached the 1 billion doses delivered milestone since the vaccine was first authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and other regulatory organizations a little more than six months ago.
“We are proud to have reached this great milestone after only six months and to have made a difference for people with our proprietary mRNA technology. To address the ongoing pandemic, we are expanding the supply of our COVID-19 vaccine to more than 100 countries and regions worldwide, including enhancing access to low- and middle-income countries,” Sahin said in a statement.
While the company’s COVID-19 vaccine has been a significant revenue driver for the company, BioNTech has other assets that will become key components of the company’s pipeline. Sahin pointed to its oncology programs as key assets. He said they are entering late-stage testing, which provides potential for a number of product candidates over the next few years. The company has two Phase II programs with its FixVac platform. The company also initiated a Phase I trial for the neoantigen specific T cell therapy, BNT221. It also launched a Phase I study for its second RiboCytokine program, BNT152+153. Over the next four months, BioNTech anticipates at least four data updates from its ongoing clinical trials in oncology, the company said.
In addition to its oncology programs and COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech is also advancing vaccines against other infectious diseases, including influenza and malaria. The company anticipates initiating a Phase I study for its influenza vaccine BNT161 in the third quarter of this year. The study will assess modified RNA influenza vaccine candidates based on the COVID vaccine platform. A malaria vaccine is expected to enter the clinic in 2022. BioNTech’s malaria project is part of the “eradicateMalaria” initiative.
