BioNTech commits US $1.34B to UK drug R&D

UK – BioNTech has signed a major agreement with the UK government to expand its research and development (R&D) work, pledging to invest up to £1 billion (US $1.34 billion) by 2034.

This long-term investment will be supported by a government grant worth up to £129 million ($172 million), as part of a national strategy to strengthen the UK’s life sciences sector.

This agreement builds on a partnership first launched in January 2023, which focuses on speeding up clinical trials for BioNTech’s cancer treatment candidates.

The expanded deal will now support broader R&D goals, including work in regenerative medicine, infectious disease vaccines, and structural biology.

As part of the plan, BioNTech will establish two new R&D centres in the UK. The first, already confirmed for Cambridge, will focus on oncology, genomics, structural biology, and regenerative medicine.

It will host over 90 scientists. A second center is in the early planning stages. The company is also setting up its UK headquarters in London.

This new site will generate new jobs and become home to BioNTech’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub, led by its subsidiary InstaDeep, a tech firm specializing in machine learning and AI.

The hub will play a key role in boosting AI-based medical research and drug discovery.

These efforts are part of BioNTech’s global mission to develop next-generation cancer immunotherapies, with a goal of bringing multiple treatments to market by 2030.

CEO and co-founder Uğur Şahin described the deal as a step forward in the company’s strategic partnership with the UK.

“Together, we’ve already expanded access to investigational personalised cancer therapies. Now, we’re accelerating our work to turn science into survival for patients,” he said.

In addition to its R&D expansion, BioNTech has continued work on COVID-19 vaccines.

In July 2024, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved an updated version of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine designed to protect against the JN.1 COVID-19 subvariant.