BioNTech has announced that it will be investing up to £1bn into the UK over the next ten years in an effort to widen its regional research and development (R&D) activities.
The UK government has also agreed to award the company up to £129m, representing one of the largest grants of its kind in UK history for a pharmaceutical company.
The agreement between BioNTech’s subsidiary BioNTech UK and the UK government is focused on accelerating clinical trials for the company’s oncology drug candidates, expanding its R&D footprint, and supporting research into areas such as structural biology, regenerative medicine and infectious disease vaccines.
The funds will go towards establishing two new R&D centres, one of which will be in Cambridge, as well as setting up a UK headquarters in London. The company’s London office will also accommodate an artificial intelligence (AI) hub led by InstaDeep, its wholly owned subsidiary.
The commitments are expected to create over 400 new highly skilled jobs over the next decade, including researchers in clinical and scientific drug development and bioinformatics.
UK science and technology secretary, Peter Kyle, said: “This investment will propel the growth-driving life sciences sector to new heights, delivering cutting-edge facilities, building careers in the future-facing jobs we want our children to have, and ultimately unlocking progress in medical science that could save lives.”
The partnership builds on an existing multi-year collaboration between BioNTech and the UK government that is aimed at accelerating clinical trials for personalised mRNA immunotherapies. The alliance is seeking provide up to 10,000 patients with investigational cancer immunotherapies by 2030, and is already “transforming” the experience of patients, according to the government.
Commenting on the latest announcement, BioNTech’s chief executive officer and co-founder, Uğur Şahin, said: “This agreement marks the next chapter of our successful strategic partnership with the UK government.
“Together, we have already made a meaningful difference in expanding access to investigational personalised cancer therapies for patients. Now, we are taking the next step to accelerate and broaden our R&D efforts, advancing towards our vision to translate science into survival for patients.”