BioNTech Pharmaceuticals Asia Pacific, a Singapore affiliate of BioNTech, has signed an agreement with Novartis Singapore Pharmaceutical Manufacturing to buy one of its GMP-certified manufacturing plants in Singapore.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
BioNTech said that the acquisition is part of its plan for international growth in Asia and the facility will serve as its regional headquarters and will become its first mRNA manufacturing plant in the region.
Expected to be operational fully in late 2023, the mRNA manufacturing facility is said to create regional manufacturing capabilities to support BioNTech’s pipeline of mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics across the Asia Pacific region for commercial as well as clinical scale.
According to the biotechnology company, the facility will first produce a variety of authorised vaccines including its own Covid-19 vaccine, oncology product candidates, and treatments for infectious diseases in addition to mRNA-based product candidates.
Upon completion, the facility will have the ability to produce mRNA for both drug material and drug product and is anticipated to produce several hundred million doses of mRNA-based vaccines annually.
By 2024, the plant will generate more than 100 jobs in Singapore in a variety of fields, including operations, engineering, finance, quality, human resources, and supply chain management.
BioNTech chief operating officer Sierk Poetting said: “We are excited to be moving a step closer to expanding our global manufacturing network to Singapore, supporting production of mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics for the Asia Pacific region.
“The acquisition gives us the opportunity to accelerate the establishment of a state-of-the-art mRNA manufacturing facility and thus to create capacity more quickly for potential clinical studies and commercial supply of our mRNA vaccines and therapeutics for the region.”
In a separate development, BioNTech and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical received emergency use authorisation (EUA) for a booster dose of an Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent Covid-19 vaccine in Hong Kong along with a special import authorisation for Macau.
The EUA was based on clinical data from a phase 2/3 trial in which a booster dose of the vaccine showed superior immune response against the Omicron BA.1 subvariant, the biotechnology firm said.
