When presenting its quarterly figures, Biontech announces two new corona vaccines that have been tailored to the Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.4/5. They should be available in October.
The biotech company Biontech is preparing to launch two adapted Omikron vaccines. Biontech announced that delivery of the vaccine could begin as early as October 2022, subject to official approvals. Both vaccines could thus be available in time to support the booster campaigns in autumn.
"Our Covid-19 product pipeline includes variant-adapted vaccine candidates as well as next-generation vaccine candidates aimed at longer and broader protection," said Biontech CEO Ugur Sahin. The company therefore expects an increase in demand in its key markets in the fourth quarter.
For one of the two boosters - a combination of the existing vaccine Comirnaty with a vaccine candidate that addresses the spike protein of the omicron variant BA.1 - Biontech and its US partner Pfizer recently completed the submission of the marketing authorization application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The doses of this vaccine have been available since March/April.
Approval for this booster is not planned in the USA. According to the recommendations of the health authority FDA, the companies there are concentrating on a booster which, in addition to the wild type of the virus, is directed against the predominant variants BA.4/5 and with which a clinical study is to begin this month. The first doses could also be delivered from October, and approval is also planned in the EU.
Biontech confirmed its forecast for Covid-19 vaccine sales of 13 to 17 billion euros this year. In the first half of the year, the group turned over a total of 9.57 billion euros, an increase of 30 percent. Net profit increased by 37 percent to 5.37 billion euros. In the second quarter, however, it fell by 40 percent to 1.67 billion. The corona vaccine manufacturer attributed this to the fact that the dynamic development of the pandemic "leads to a postponement of orders and thus to fluctuations in quarterly sales".
