Biontech’s new corona vaccine is coming in October
Biontech and its partner Pfizer have started manufacturing so-called bivalent corona vaccines adapted to the omicron variants BA.1 and BA.4/5. This was announced by the Mainz-based biotech company on Monday when it presented its quarterly figures. Subject to official approvals, one plans that vaccine to be delivered from October and to be made available in time to support the booster campaigns in the autumn.
Biontech’s American competitor is pursuing similar plans Moderna , which also produces mRNA vaccines against the coronavirus. The goal is to bring two combined Covid 19 booster vaccines onto the market in the fall, if they are approved, it said in mid-July. This is a reaction to different market preferences for omicron sub-variants.
Biontech and Moderna had developed and pre-produced a vaccine adapted to the BA.1 variant that was circulating at the time. In the meantime, however, the BA.4/BA.5 omicron strain has become dominant, which is why suppliers there are concentrating on this variant according to the latest recommendations from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For Germany, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is also pushing for the appropriately adapted vaccine.
“Our Covid-19 product pipeline includes variant-adapted vaccine candidates as well as next-generation vaccine candidates aimed at longer and broader protection,” said Biontech boss Ugur Sahin. CFO Jens Holstein explained that demand is expected to increase in key markets in the fourth quarter. The company confirmed its forecast for the 2022 financial year. According to this, sales of Covid-19 vaccines are planned to be in the range of 13 to 17 billion euros. In 2021 it was almost 19 billion euros. Net profit last year was almost 10.3 billion euros.
3.6 billion doses delivered
Biontech and Pfizer plan to bring further next-generation corona vaccine candidates into clinical development in the second half of the year. These include T-cell-boosting vaccines, which primarily work against serious illnesses, and pan-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, which can be used to better control future virus variants of concern.
A first trial of a next-generation vaccine began in June. Biontech is also advancing its pipeline for cancer and infectious diseases. “In oncology, we presented encouraging data for our individualized mRNA cancer vaccine candidate BNT122 in pancreatic cancer and our innovative CAR-T cell therapy candidate BNT211 in solid tumors,” said Sahin.
Business went well in the first half of the year. Biontech was able to significantly increase revenues and profits. Compared to the same period last year, sales grew by 30 percent to 9.57 billion euros. Net profit increased by 37 percent to 5.37 billion euros. In the second quarter, however, it fell by 40 percent to 1.67 billion euros due to the fluctuating vaccine business caused by the pandemic.
By the beginning of July, Biontech and Pfizer had delivered a total of more than 3.6 billion doses to 180 countries or regions, according to their own statements. For 2022, they signed supply orders for around 2.5 billion cans and invoiced around 1.2 billion cans in the first half of the year. The two companies recently received a $3.2 billion order from the US government for 105 million vaccine doses to be delivered through the fourth quarter, including the Omicron booster.
