Pfizer Inc has agreed to pay German biotech firm BioNTech AG up to US$425 million in an alliance to develop more effective influenza jabs, the latest among several major pharma companies to bank on a promising new genetic approach.
Privately held BioNTech is to receive US$120 million upfront and up to US$305 million depending on certain development achievements, as well as tiered royalties on futures sales in the double-digit percentage range, the two companies said in a statement yesterday.
Mainz-based BioNTech, valued at US$2.3 billion in a January financing round, specializes in so-called messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that instruct human cells to produce therapeutic proteins or to launch an immune response.
The emergent field has seen drugmakers such as AstraZeneca PLC, Eli Lilly & Co and Sanofi SA partner up with biotech firms.
“mRNA vaccines offer a novel approach to code for any protein or multiple proteins, and the potential to manufacture higher potency flu vaccines more rapidly and at a lower cost than contemporary flu vaccines,” said Kathrin Jansen, who heads Pfizer’s vaccine research and development unit.
Flu jabs are currently produced from chicken eggs based on the previous flu season’s viral strains.
The alliance partners hope to offer a vaccine that can be quickly adjusted to the latest viral mutations, which can also be a major advantage in case of a pandemic threat from avian flu.
Pfizer is to take over testing on humans and commercialization of BioNTech’s flu vaccines once the German firm, which is Europe’s largest unlisted biotech firm by staff numbers, has completed the first clinical study.
Having raised US$270 million from investors early this year, BioNTech is also developing personalized immunotherapies for cancer and is eyeing a future public listing.
The company competes in the race for mRNA therapies with groups such as Massachusetts-based Moderna Therapeutics Inc, Belgium’s eTheRNA immunotherapies NV and domestic rival CureVac AG.
CureVac’s work on jabs to prevent malaria and influenza won more financial backing from its investor the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in a February agreement.
BioNTech, for its part, has previously attracted alliance partners including Roche Holding AG’s Genentech, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Genmab A/S and Bayer Animal Health.
As part of the upfront payment, Pfizer is to acquire a “smaller” stake in the Germany company. Precise terms were not disclosed.
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