BioNTech reports quarterly loss as it pushes ahead with COVID-19 vaccine trials
German biotech company BioNTech (BNTX) reported a net loss in the second quarter of the year of €88m (£79m, $103m ), up from a loss of slightly over €50m in the same three months last year, as it intensified its research and development of a potential vaccine against COVID-19.
The Mainz-based company, is partnering on vaccine development with US pharma giant Pfizer (PFE) as well as China’s Fosun Pharma.
It said on Tuesday that it had received an aggregate of €216.7m in non-refundable upfront payments from its collaboration agreements and equity investments with Pfizer and Fosun Pharma. It was also approved for a €100m loan from the European Investment Bank in June, which it will use to expand its manufacturing capacity.
BioNTech and Pfizer (PFE) announced at the end of July that they had started late-stage human trials of a potential messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine on some 30,000 people. They have signed agreements with the UK, US, Japan, and Canada to deliver hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine if it is a success and gets approved.
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CureVac, another German biopharma company currently in the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine, announced on Monday (10 August) that it was preparing for an IPO on the Nasdaq in the US, aiming to raise $245m.
It plans to offer up to 15.33 million shares, which it expects to be priced at between $14 and $16 per share, which could value the company at around $2.7bn.
British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced in July that it would investing £130m ($163m) in CureVac, for a 10% stake. The German government also invested €300m in the Tübingen-based company in June, after several media outlets reported that CureVac was approached by the US administration in March with with an offer to develop its virus exclusively for the US.
There are currently some 26 potential vaccine candidates currently entered in human clinical trials, according to the World Health Organisation.
