The move comes as BioNTech shifts to being a multiproduct commercial biotech, allowing Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci to transition back into research on next-generation mRNA therapeutics.
BioNTech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, who oversaw the development of a COVID-19 vaccine that would help the world move out of the pandemic, are leaving the famed mRNA biotech to form a new one.
“For us, this is the right time to prepare to hand over the baton,” Sahin said in a Tuesday statement. “At the same time, Özlem and I are ready to become pioneers once again. Our vision has always been to translate our science into meaningful advances for patients, and we see extraordinary opportunities to unlock the next generation of transformative innovations.”
The new, unnamed company will take technology from BioNTech with a goal of developing next-generation mRNA therapeutics. This will be the third biotech founded by Sahin and Türeci, after Ganymed Pharmaceuticals in 2001 and BioNTech in 2008. Ganymed, which focused on monoclonal antibodies, was sold to Astellas in 2016. Over the past two decades, Sahin has served as BioNTech’s CEO and Türeci as the company’s chief medical officer.
The move comes as BioNTech shifts to being a multiproduct commercial biotech focused on oncology therapies.
“Over the course of their careers, Ugur and Özlem have established an outstanding track record of innovation,” said Board Chairman Helmut Jeggle in the Tuesday statement. “As BioNTech advances multiple late-stage product candidates towards commercialization, we support them in taking the opportunity to apply their strengths and undivided attention to a new venture, dedicated to enabling mRNA-based technologies to reach their full potential.”
Under Sahin’s leadership, BioNTech rose to prominence during the pandemic by quickly pivoting from its cancer mission to develop an mRNA vaccine to combat COVID-19. After partnering with Pfizer, the companies brought a candidate through trials and to emergency authorization in record time.
The shot—the first COVID-19 vaccine to reach the U.S. market, followed quickly by Moderna’s SpikeVax—contributed to preventing an estimated 2.5 million deaths between 2020 and 2024, according to a recent study published in JAMA.
Since then, the biotech has been challenged with how to get back to its original mission with a bank account full of cash from the pandemic work. While Moderna has struggled to capitalize on its post-COVID fame, BioNTech has gone back to the cancer clinic to build out an expansive and diverse pipeline beyond mRNA. The company is now working through Phase 3 trials with several candidates, including the anti-CTLA-4 antibody gotistobart, HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) BNT323 and PD-L1xVEGF-A bispecific pumitamig.
Jeggle said that BioNTech will work with Sahin and Türeci’s new company on combination therapies in the future.
BioNTech will offload the rights to certain unspecified mRNA technologies for the new venture. In return, the original company will obtain a minority stake and be eligible for milestones and royalties. An official deal is expected to be signed in the first half of the year.
