BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX, “BioNTech”) reached the next milestone in the establishment of scalable mRNA vaccine production in Africa. The six ISO-sized shipping containers for the first BioNTainer have been flown to Kigali, Rwanda, where they have been welcomed by Sabin Nsanzimana, M.D., Ph.D., the Minister of Health of Rwanda and Sierk Poetting, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer at BioNTech.
In parallel, BioNTech continues to build and develop its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for the production of mRNA-based drugs and product candidates in Kigali, Rwanda, following the groundbreaking in June 2022.
The facility will initially house two sets of BioNTainers for mRNA vaccine production in bulk and is expected to become the first node in a decentralized and robust end-to-end manufacturing network in Africa.
BioNTech is also pursuing facility developments in Senegal and South Africa, in close coordination with each country.
Vaccines deriving from this envisioned pan-African infrastructure will be intended for people residing in member states of the African Union, with the aim to support access to novel medicines.
BioNTech is advancing mRNA-based vaccine candidates to address malaria and tuberculosis based on the Company’s mRNA platform.
The malaria vaccine candidate BNT165 entered clinical trials in December 2022. The clinical trials for the tuberculosis vaccine candidate BNT164 are expected to enter first-in-human trials shortly.
Biopharmaceutical New Technologies is a next generation immunotherapy company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases.
The Company exploits a wide array of computational discovery and therapeutic drug platforms for the rapid development of novel biopharmaceuticals.
Its broad portfolio of oncology product candidates includes individualized and off-the-shelf mRNA-based therapies, innovative chimeric antigen receptor T cells, bi-specific checkpoint immuno-modulators, targeted cancer antibodies and small molecules.
Based on its deep expertise in mRNA vaccine development and in-house manufacturing capabilities, BioNTech and its collaborators are developing multiple mRNA vaccine candidates for a range of infectious diseases alongside its diverse oncology pipeline.
BioNTech has established a broad set of relationships with multiple global pharmaceutical collaborators, including Genmab, Sanofi, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Regeneron, Genevant, Fosun Pharma, and Pfizer. (End)