Uğur Şahin is a scientist at heart: the cofounder and CEO of BioNTech would rather be in the lab than almost anywhere else. On the day he married his wife, fellow BioNTech cofounder Özlem Türeci, the two went back to work after the nuptials. (Türeci is BioNTech’s chief medical officer.)The mild-mannered Turkish immigrant, who moved to Germany with his parents at age 4, has more the vibe of a college professor than the high-powered CEO of a $27 billion market cap company. In fact he is a professor — he has been one at the University of Mainz for more than 20 years. He still bikes to work everyday from his apartment in Mainz because he and his wife don’t own a car, and he can still often be found in his company’s laboratories. But his company’s partnership with Pfizer has turned BioNTech into one of the most important biotechs in the world, thanks to the co-development of the first authorized vaccine against Covid-19. That success has made Şahin a billionaire, as well, with a net worth of $4.8 billion. The company, whose vaccine has already been administered to millions, estimates that it can manufacture 2.5 billion doses of the vaccine by the end of this year — enough to protect more than 15% of the world from the deadly disease. All of this has accelerated the growth of the biotech company. It now has more than 1,900 employees over two continents, 600 of whom have been hired since 2019; revenues, meanwhile, increased nearly 350% in 2020 compared to the previous year. Its projected revenues from Covid-19 vaccines in 2021 is $11.5 billion. The triumph of the Covid-19 vaccine,  Şahin says, is “motivating us to use the success to further accelerate our other programs.”Here’s what this scientist CEO is dreaming up next:The BioNTech-Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to more than 200 million people in over 65 countries — but the companies plan to keep tweaking and testing the vaccine. Though the end of the pandemic may be in sight, the growing number of Covid-19 variants is a major obstacle to that goal. Some of these variants have already been shown to be more contagious, more deadly, and less impacted by vaccines. While the BioNTech vaccine is effective against the B.1.1.7 variant that was first discovered in the U. K., it may not be as potent against the B.1.351 variant that is now dominating South Africa. In its annual report, BioNTech said that it plans to do clinical trials to test its vaccine  against different variants, and it may develop new versions of its vaccine that are more specific to them. The company is also looking at whether or not a third booster shot 6-12 months after the second dose of the vaccine can increase immunity. “We already know that our vaccine is preventing hospitalization and preventing death in people,”  Şahin says,  “this is of course a wonderful, wonderful accomplishment.”Right now the vaccine is only authorized in the U. S.


All data is taken from the source: http://forbes.com
Article Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2021/04/08/biontechs-humble-billionaire-ceo-on-the-next-era-of-mrna-vaccines/


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