Couple behind the Pfizer Covid vaccine are leaving Germany’s BioNTech to start new firm

BioNTech founders Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci. Photo / Getty Images

The founders of Germany’s BioNTech, known for its blockbuster Covid-19 vaccine, will leave the company to start a new business, BioNTech said today.

BioNTech shares listed in New York fell about a fifth in pre-trading after the firm made the announcement and posted a loss of €1.1 billion ($2.1b) for 2025.

Married couple Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, who serve as chief executive and chief medical officer, would step down at the end of their terms in 2026, BioNtech said.

“Ozlem and I are ready to become pioneers once again,” Sahin said.

“Our vision has always been to translate our science into meaningful advances for patients,” he added.

The new venture will be the couple’s third company, after they founded Ganymed Pharmaceuticals in 2001 and BioNTech in 2008.

It will explore mRNA innovations, building on BioNTech’s blockbuster Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine, developed along with US pharma giant Pfizer.

The product was both the first Covid vaccine to receive approval in the West and the first mRNA vaccine approved for widespread use.

Unlike traditional vaccines which contain some form of target virus or its components, mRNA vaccines contain genetic materials that instruct human cells to make proteins typical of the targeted virus - allowing production to be scaled up more quickly since the virus need not be grown in the lab.

BioNTech will supply the new firm with some patent rights and technologies in exchange for a minority stake, it said.

BioNTech’s chairman Helmut Jeggle said he hoped the new firm would help mRNA-based technologies “to reach their full potential”.

“We look forward to working together with their new company on potential combination therapy approaches,” he added.

-Agence France-Presse