Biontech Is Taking Over A Production Facility From Novartis

The facility is expected to become one of the largest production facilities in Europe for messenger RNA (mRNA), on which Biontech's vaccine is based. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Biontech and its US partner Pfizer are among the leading companies in the race for a corona vaccine. If the study results are successful, the two companies plan to apply for approval as early as October. Biontech had previously planned to manufacture up to 100 million units of the vaccine worldwide by the end of 2020 and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021. The company announced earlier this week that it would receive up to 375 million euros as part of the Federal Ministry of Research's special program to advance its vaccine project. The production facility in Marburg is part of the well-known Behring factory, which was built in 1904 by Nobel Prize winner Emil von Behring. Around 300 employees switch to Biontech Biontech is taking over a production building in Marburg with around 300 Novartis employees who have already manufactured vaccines there, among other things. "We are working closely with Novartis to enable a smooth transition," said Biontech CFO Sierk Poetting, who is also responsible for operations. After the deal is concluded, there should be a quick changeover to the production of the corona vaccine. It should start in the first half of 2021. In the future, Biontech also plans to use the production facility for the manufacture of further therapeutics and vaccine candidates in order to advance its development of drugs for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. The corona vaccine is to be manufactured there for the global market, including China, where Biontech is working with Fosun Pharma. Biontech already has two certified manufacturing facilities currently producing Covid-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials, plus four Pfizer sites in the US and Europe.