A BioNTech spokesperson downplayed the news, insisting that the two companies remain “close” and have a “strong collaboration.”
Pfizer may be looking to sell off its stake in pandemic partner BioNTech, according to a Thursday report from Bloomberg.
Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the New York-based pharma is seeking to offload around 4.55 million American depositary receipts, worth $108 to $111.7 apiece. At the highest point of this price range, the sale of the stake would be worth about $500 million.
In a statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for BioNTech insisted that the relationship with Pfizer remains strong. “We continue to have a close and strong collaboration,” the spokesperson said, otherwise refusing to comment on Pfizer’s business dealings.
Pfizer and BioNTech teamed up in 2020 to develop an mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19, a deal that had Pfizer paying BioNTech $185 million upfront plus other considerations totaling $748 million.
That effort resulted in Comirnaty, which during the height of the pandemic, skyrocketed to become the world’s top-selling drug in 2021, almost reaching $60 billion in revenue in 2021 and easily eclipsing AbbVie’s anti-inflammatory juggernaut Humira.
But the COVID-19 business has since seen a precipitous drop. For Pfizer that has meant quarter after quarter after quarter of declining sales—enough to force the pharma to kick off a slew of cost-cutting measures. In October 2023, Pfizer initiated a “multi-year, enterprise-wide cost realignment program” aiming to save $3.5 billion through 2024. The company made this push more aggressive in December 2023, adding $500 million to its savings target. Pfizer minted another round of cuts in May 2024, this time to save $1.5 billion by the end of 2027.
In the most recent quarter, Comirnaty fell 20% year-on-year, bringing in just over $1.1 billion worldwide.
Now that the pandemic is waning, Pfizer seems to be moving on to the next big market: obesity. Earlier this week, after some drama, the pharma finally closed the $10 billion acquisition of weight-loss biotech Metsera.
Meanwhile, BioNTech’s post-COVID-19 plans have been focused on cancer. One of its more closely watched assets is the investigational PD-1/VEGF blocker pumitamig. In June, Bristol Myers Squibb fronted $1.5 billion to co-develop the candidate, promising $2 billion in non-contingent payments and $7.6 billion more in milestones.
All told, the pumitamig partnership could mean more than $11 billion from BMS to BioNTech, plus royalties on sales if it reaches the market.
