Biotech and pharmaceutical companies are joining forces worldwide in the battle against the coronavirus crisis. Mainz-based biotech BioNTech has started a collaboration with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer to push the work for the development of its vaccine forward. The plan is to use research facilities of the two companies in Germany and the US and for their joint work to start immediately. With a view to the Chinese market, BioNTech has teamed up with Fosun Pharma of Shanghai.

The company says it has made “extremely fast progress” in its work to develop a vaccine. A clinical trial is due to start in late April. “We are working closely with drug control authorities and our existing partners in the field of infectious diseases, including Pfizer, to enter into clinical trials as soon as possible and make a vaccine available worldwide”, says founder and CEO Ugur Sahin. BioNTech is also working on a new therapeutic approach to treating patients who have contracted the virus.

Once a winner of the GO-Bio competition, BioNTech has over the past few years grown into one of Germany’s biggest biotech companies.