Coronavirus (32) mRNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19: BNT162b2 (part b)
After learning about the world's first vaccine approved for use against COVID-19, you may be interested to know more about the two companies, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, which developed the vaccine. Let us have a look at these two companies in this blog post.
Pfizer Inc.
Pfizer Inc. is one of the world's biggest biopharmaceutical companies and is based in New York. It was established in 1849. The company was started by German-American cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart in Brooklyn. It started as a manufacturer of fine chemicals. As the company expanded, the headquarters moved to Manhattan in 1868. Later it opened a separate warehouse in Chicago in 1882. An article on the BBC's website thoroughly describes the expansion history of the company from the early days.1,2
After over 150 years of development, the company is now operating in 180 countries employing 96,000 people. It develops and produces medicines across all therapeutic areas. The research headquarters are in Groton, Connecticut.2,3
In 2004, Pfizer was added to the Dow Jones stock index, which tracks the 30 large, publicly listed companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ.2 It had a market value of almost 230 billion dollars on 11th December 2020. Based on the total revenues from the first two quarters of 2020, Pfizer was the world's fifth largest pharmaceutical company, down from the second in 2017.4
Pfizer also expanded by acquiring several other pharmaceutical companies. One of these was Warner-Lambert, the original maker of the cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor. Since the merger of Warner-Lambert with Pfizer in 2000, Lipitor has contributed billions of revenue and continues to generate roughly US$2 billion per year in sales for Pfizer.5
The first pharmaceutical product of the company was santonin, which cured an intestinal parasite common in the 19th century. The drug was a great success as it was given an almond-toffee flavouring to mask its bitterness so that people were more willing to use it for treatment.1 The company was also known as the world’s first and top producer of vitamin C when they started to mass produce this using a fermentation-free method in 1936. It was also the first company in the world to produce penicillin at a large scale, which was in great demand during World War II.1 Nowadays, Pfizer's well known products include Advil (Ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain reliever), Lyrica (cholesteral medication), Xanax (psychoactive medicine) and Zoloft (an anti-depressant).3
Despite its successes, the pharmaceutical industry giant has also seen its share of lawsuits and scandals. These included the Protonix case, saying Pfizer failed to warn about the risk of kidney damage; the Prempro lawsuits regarding the onset of breast cancer after using Prempro; the Chantix lawsuits claiming they caused suicidal thoughts and severe psychological disorders; the Depo-Testosterone lawsuits regarding the cause of strokes, blood clots and heart attacks; the Effexor lawsuits which claimed birth defects; the Zoloft lawsuits which also claimed the drug caused birth defects; the Eliquis lawsuits claiming severe bleeding; and the Lipitor lawsuits claiming the development of Type 2 diabetes.3 Some of these lawsuits were dismissed by the court, while others were settled by paying out large sums of money.3
BioNTech SE
This is a biotech company founded in Mainz in Germany in 2008 by a couple, Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, who are descendants of Turkish immigrants.6 Sahin is the CEO of BioNTech, while Tureci, who was a doctor before, is the firm’s chief medical officer. Before starting BioNTech, they set up another biotech company, called Ganymad Pharmaceuticals, focused on immunotherapeutic cancer drugs. That company was sold to Astellas, a Japanese company, for up to 1.3 billion euros in late 2016.6
BioNTech, with its North American headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in October 2019. The company was able to generate total gross proceeds of 150 million dollars from that IPO.7
A main focus of BioNTech is the use of mRNA as therapeutic strategy. The company has more than a decade of experience in developing their mRNA platforms. Not long after the establishment of the company, they published their first research paper on vaccination of mRNA in preclinical animal models, in 2010.8 In more recent years, they put a lot of effort in developing and improving stability of the mRNA and the delivery methods for their therapeutic mRNA platforms.9-11 Their preclinical studies on the use of mRNA in immunotherapy were at the forefront of the medical research field and are of great value. The results were published in high-ranked peer-reviewed papers, indicating their work is highly recognized by the scientists of the field.11-14
BioNTech has established a broad set of relationships with multiple global pharmaceutical collaborators, including Eli Lilly and Company, Genmab, Sanofi, Bayer Animal Health, Genentech (a member of the Roche Group), Genevant, Fosun Pharma, and Pfizer. The collaboration with Pfizer started from 2018 when the two companies together developed mRNA vaccines for prevention of influenza.6
References
1. Our history. A Journey through Time: How Pfizer has transformed itself and changed the world. Pfizer website in Thai. https://www.pfizer.co.th/en/about-us/%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%9B%E0%B9%87%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B2
2. Pfizer: The making of a global drugs giant. BBC Business, 13 May 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27309851
3. Drugwatch. https://www.drugwatch.com/manufacturers/pfizer/
4. 10 of the largest pharmaceutical companies by revenue. By Samantha McGrail. Pharma News Intelligence, 16th Oct, 2020. https://pharmanewsintel.com/news/10-of-the-largest-pharmaceutical-companies-by-revenue
5. Lipitor is still churning out billions of dollars. By Bob Herman. Axios, Oct 30, 2019. https://www.axios.com/lipitor-pfizer-drug-patent-sales-2019-6937cdfb-47f1-46bc-8cf0-39e6b88e235e.html
6. What you need to know about BioNTech — the European company behind Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. By Ryan Browne. CNBC Health and Science, Nov 11, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/11/biontech-the-european-company-behind-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine.html
7. Germany's BioNTech raises $150 million in smaller-than-planned U.S. IPO amid market volatility. By Rebecca Spalding and Joshua Franklin. Reuters, 9th October, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-biontech-ipo-idUSKBN1WO29B
8. S. Kreiter, A. Selmi, M. Diken, et al. 2010. Intranodal vaccination with naked antigen-encoding RNA elicits potent prophylactic and therapeutic antitumoral immunity.Cancer Res., Nov 15; 70(22): 9031-9040
9. J. Kowalska, A. Wypijewska del Nogal, Z.M. Darzynkiewicz, et al. 2014. Synthesis, properties, and biological activity of boranophosphate analogs of the mRNA cap: versatile tools for manipulation of therapeutic relevant cap-dependent process. Nucleic Acids Res. 42(16): 10245-10264.
10. L.M. Kranz, M. Diken, H. Haas, et al. 2016. Systemic RNA delivery to dendritic cells exploits antiviral defense for cancer immunotherapy. Nature. Jun 1; 534(7607): 396-401.
11. S. Grabbe, H. Haas, M. Diken, et al. 2016. Translating nanoparticulate-personalized cancer vaccines into clinical applications: case study with RNA-lipoplexes for the treatment of melanoma. Nanomedicine (Lond). Oct; 11(20): 2723-2734.
12. N. Pardi, M.J. Hogan, R.S. Pelc, et al. 2017. Zika virus protection by a single low-dose nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccination. Nature. Mar 9; 543(7644): 248-251.
13. C.R. Stadler, H. Bähr-Mahmud, L. Celik L, et al. 2017. Elimination of large tumors in mice by mRNA-encoded bispecific antibodies. Nature Medicine Jul; 23(7): 815-817.
14. U. Sahin U, E. Derhovanessian, M. Miller, et al. 2017. Personalized RNA mutanome vaccines mobilize poly-specific therapeutic immunity against cancer. Nature. Jul 13; 547(7662): 222-226.
After learning about the world's first vaccine approved for use against COVID-19, you may be interested to know more about the two companies, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, which developed the vaccine. Let us have a look at these two companies in this blog post.
Pfizer Inc.
Pfizer Inc. is one of the world's biggest biopharmaceutical companies and is based in New York. It was established in 1849. The company was started by German-American cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart in Brooklyn. It started as a manufacturer of fine chemicals. As the company expanded, the headquarters moved to Manhattan in 1868. Later it opened a separate warehouse in Chicago in 1882. An article on the BBC's website thoroughly describes the expansion history of the company from the early days.1,2
After over 150 years of development, the company is now operating in 180 countries employing 96,000 people. It develops and produces medicines across all therapeutic areas. The research headquarters are in Groton, Connecticut.2,3
In 2004, Pfizer was added to the Dow Jones stock index, which tracks the 30 large, publicly listed companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ.2 It had a market value of almost 230 billion dollars on 11th December 2020. Based on the total revenues from the first two quarters of 2020, Pfizer was the world's fifth largest pharmaceutical company, down from the second in 2017.4
Pfizer also expanded by acquiring several other pharmaceutical companies. One of these was Warner-Lambert, the original maker of the cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor. Since the merger of Warner-Lambert with Pfizer in 2000, Lipitor has contributed billions of revenue and continues to generate roughly US$2 billion per year in sales for Pfizer.5
The first pharmaceutical product of the company was santonin, which cured an intestinal parasite common in the 19th century. The drug was a great success as it was given an almond-toffee flavouring to mask its bitterness so that people were more willing to use it for treatment.1 The company was also known as the world’s first and top producer of vitamin C when they started to mass produce this using a fermentation-free method in 1936. It was also the first company in the world to produce penicillin at a large scale, which was in great demand during World War II.1 Nowadays, Pfizer's well known products include Advil (Ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain reliever), Lyrica (cholesteral medication), Xanax (psychoactive medicine) and Zoloft (an anti-depressant).3
Despite its successes, the pharmaceutical industry giant has also seen its share of lawsuits and scandals. These included the Protonix case, saying Pfizer failed to warn about the risk of kidney damage; the Prempro lawsuits regarding the onset of breast cancer after using Prempro; the Chantix lawsuits claiming they caused suicidal thoughts and severe psychological disorders; the Depo-Testosterone lawsuits regarding the cause of strokes, blood clots and heart attacks; the Effexor lawsuits which claimed birth defects; the Zoloft lawsuits which also claimed the drug caused birth defects; the Eliquis lawsuits claiming severe bleeding; and the Lipitor lawsuits claiming the development of Type 2 diabetes.3 Some of these lawsuits were dismissed by the court, while others were settled by paying out large sums of money.3
BioNTech SE
This is a biotech company founded in Mainz in Germany in 2008 by a couple, Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, who are descendants of Turkish immigrants.6 Sahin is the CEO of BioNTech, while Tureci, who was a doctor before, is the firm’s chief medical officer. Before starting BioNTech, they set up another biotech company, called Ganymad Pharmaceuticals, focused on immunotherapeutic cancer drugs. That company was sold to Astellas, a Japanese company, for up to 1.3 billion euros in late 2016.6
BioNTech, with its North American headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in October 2019. The company was able to generate total gross proceeds of 150 million dollars from that IPO.7
A main focus of BioNTech is the use of mRNA as therapeutic strategy. The company has more than a decade of experience in developing their mRNA platforms. Not long after the establishment of the company, they published their first research paper on vaccination of mRNA in preclinical animal models, in 2010.8 In more recent years, they put a lot of effort in developing and improving stability of the mRNA and the delivery methods for their therapeutic mRNA platforms.9-11 Their preclinical studies on the use of mRNA in immunotherapy were at the forefront of the medical research field and are of great value. The results were published in high-ranked peer-reviewed papers, indicating their work is highly recognized by the scientists of the field.11-14
BioNTech has established a broad set of relationships with multiple global pharmaceutical collaborators, including Eli Lilly and Company, Genmab, Sanofi, Bayer Animal Health, Genentech (a member of the Roche Group), Genevant, Fosun Pharma, and Pfizer. The collaboration with Pfizer started from 2018 when the two companies together developed mRNA vaccines for prevention of influenza.6
References
1. Our history. A Journey through Time: How Pfizer has transformed itself and changed the world. Pfizer website in Thai. https://www.pfizer.co.th/en/about-us/%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%9B%E0%B9%87%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B2
2. Pfizer: The making of a global drugs giant. BBC Business, 13 May 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27309851
3. Drugwatch. https://www.drugwatch.com/manufacturers/pfizer/
4. 10 of the largest pharmaceutical companies by revenue. By Samantha McGrail. Pharma News Intelligence, 16th Oct, 2020. https://pharmanewsintel.com/news/10-of-the-largest-pharmaceutical-companies-by-revenue
5. Lipitor is still churning out billions of dollars. By Bob Herman. Axios, Oct 30, 2019. https://www.axios.com/lipitor-pfizer-drug-patent-sales-2019-6937cdfb-47f1-46bc-8cf0-39e6b88e235e.html
6. What you need to know about BioNTech — the European company behind Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. By Ryan Browne. CNBC Health and Science, Nov 11, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/11/biontech-the-european-company-behind-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine.html
7. Germany's BioNTech raises $150 million in smaller-than-planned U.S. IPO amid market volatility. By Rebecca Spalding and Joshua Franklin. Reuters, 9th October, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-biontech-ipo-idUSKBN1WO29B
8. S. Kreiter, A. Selmi, M. Diken, et al. 2010. Intranodal vaccination with naked antigen-encoding RNA elicits potent prophylactic and therapeutic antitumoral immunity.Cancer Res., Nov 15; 70(22): 9031-9040
9. J. Kowalska, A. Wypijewska del Nogal, Z.M. Darzynkiewicz, et al. 2014. Synthesis, properties, and biological activity of boranophosphate analogs of the mRNA cap: versatile tools for manipulation of therapeutic relevant cap-dependent process. Nucleic Acids Res. 42(16): 10245-10264.
10. L.M. Kranz, M. Diken, H. Haas, et al. 2016. Systemic RNA delivery to dendritic cells exploits antiviral defense for cancer immunotherapy. Nature. Jun 1; 534(7607): 396-401.
11. S. Grabbe, H. Haas, M. Diken, et al. 2016. Translating nanoparticulate-personalized cancer vaccines into clinical applications: case study with RNA-lipoplexes for the treatment of melanoma. Nanomedicine (Lond). Oct; 11(20): 2723-2734.
12. N. Pardi, M.J. Hogan, R.S. Pelc, et al. 2017. Zika virus protection by a single low-dose nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccination. Nature. Mar 9; 543(7644): 248-251.
13. C.R. Stadler, H. Bähr-Mahmud, L. Celik L, et al. 2017. Elimination of large tumors in mice by mRNA-encoded bispecific antibodies. Nature Medicine Jul; 23(7): 815-817.
14. U. Sahin U, E. Derhovanessian, M. Miller, et al. 2017. Personalized RNA mutanome vaccines mobilize poly-specific therapeutic immunity against cancer. Nature. Jul 13; 547(7662): 222-226.
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