Germany Awards Up To $444 Million For Coronavirus Vaccine Development

Germany-based BioNTech SE announced on September 15, 2020, that it will receive a grant of up to 375 million Euro (US$444 million) from an initiative by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research to support the accelerated development of the Company’s mRNA vaccine program BNT162, that is being co-developed with its partners Pfizer Inc. and Fosun Pharma. Pfizer will continue to independently fund its share of development costs for BNT162, without the use of this or other government funding.

The BNT162 vaccine program is one of 3 programs supported by the German government, which will provide a total of up to 750 million Euro to its funding recipients.

The goal of the (8) milestone-based grant initiative is the expansion of vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities in Germany, as well as the expansion of the number of participants in late-stage clinical trials. Patient recruitment has commenced on 3 continents and over 28,000 participants have already been enrolled worldwide with study sites in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, and Europe.