BioNTech Gets $445 Million in German Funding for Vaccine

(Bloomberg) -- BioNTech SE will get as much as 375 million euros ($445 million) from Germany to back its Covid-19 vaccine program, about half of the money the government set aside to accelerate development of immunizations.

The German biotech company is working with Pfizer Inc. and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. on what is expected to be one of the first vaccines to deliver results from late-stage human trials. Pfizer has repeatedly said data from a U.S. study could be ready next month.

Germany is splitting its funding between BioNTech and rival vaccine developers CureVac NV and IDT Biologika GmbH. CureVac will get 230 million euros, while talks are still going on with IDT Biologika, Research Minister Anja Karliczek said in a press conference in Berlin. The other two companies are a bit behind BioNTech in the vaccine development timeline and haven’t yet started the large trials necessary to see whether their vaccines work.

German authorities cautioned against hasty use of vaccines in the wider public before careful testing in humans shows whether they’re safe and effective. Broad use of a vaccine against the virus will probably not come before the middle of next year, Karliczek said.

The government funding will help BioNTech build out manufacturing and development capacity in its home market, the Mainz-based company said. Pfizer will keep paying for its share of development costs for the experimental vaccine without public money.

The New York-traded depositary receipts of BioNTech rose 3.7% before U.S. markets opened, while CureVac’s shares rose 1.9% in New York pre-market.

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