BioNTech receives $250m investment amid vaccine development
BioNTech announced yesterday that it had secured an investment of $250m (€223m) from Temasek and other investors.
The funding follows on from a €100m debt financing agreement secured with the European Investment Bank that will be used to expand manufacturing capacity for its potential COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162.
The latest private investment is expected to close by mid-August, at latest.
Temasek, a Singaporean investment company that will now become shareholder in the biotech, possesses a portfolio worth $231bn, whilst also holding positions in Celltrion and WuXi Biologics.
The financial backing the German biotech has received arrives after BioNTech partnered with Pfizer to work on multiple COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidates.
The deal with Pfizer also brought the company an upfront fee of $185m, with its big pharma partner shouldering the development cost for the vaccines at the center of the deal.
Last year, Sanofi confirmed its own interest in the oncology and infectious disease-focused biotech by investing €80m, after having previously begun a collaboration in 2015.
