After the success of its corona vaccine, the Mainz-based pharmaceutical company Biontech is further expanding its international presence with the construction of a research center and a production facility in Australia. One of the focal points should be the search for cancer therapies.
Biontech on Friday agreed a strategic collaboration with the Australian state of Victoria to collaborate on the research and development of potential mRNA-based vaccines and therapies, the company said. mRNA technology has already been used successfully in Biontech’s Corona vaccine.
The jointly operated research center is to be built in Melbourne. It is primarily intended to support scientists in the implementation of their research projects in clinical development. In addition, Biontech intends to expand its clinical research capabilities in Australia and include additional study centers in order to accelerate the development of therapeutic options for cancer. According to the company, Biontech’s pipeline currently comprises a total of 18 product candidates in 23 ongoing clinical studies.
In addition, the company intends to support the establishment of a clinical-scale mRNA production facility for a wide range of clinical programs. The containers for production, so-called “BioNTainers”, are also to be built at the Melbourne site. The Australian city will thus become the company’s third own mRNA production facility outside of Germany. The company has already announced the establishment of such production facilities in Africa, for example in Rwanda, and in Singapore.
