'Pfizer Vaccine Partner Company' Couple in Spotlight... "Achievement of Turkish-German Immigrants"

German Company 'BioNTech' Develops Over 20 Vaccine Candidates
Collaborating with Global Pharma Firms Pfizer, Fosun Since March

Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of the German biotechnology company BioNTech. / Photo by BioNTech

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] BioNTech, a German company that was selected as a partner of the American global pharmaceutical company Pfizer and jointly developed the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, is receiving attention. This company, which mainly researches immuno-oncology drugs, was founded by a second-generation Turkish immigrant couple.

The British media outlet The Guardian focused on U?ur ?ahin (55) and ?zlem T?reci (53), Turkish immigrant founders of BioNTech, on the 9th (local time).

The two were born into a poor immigrant labor family from Turkey and grew up in Germany. ?ahin immigrated to Germany at the age of four, and T?reci was born in Germany.

Both attended medical school and got married in 2002. It is reported that even at their wedding, they participated wearing lab coats, showing their dedication to research.

Ozlem Tureci, who co-founded BioNTech together with her husband Sahin. / Photo by BioNTech

?ahin and T?reci founded BioNTech in 2008. In its early days, BioNTech focused on developing cancer immunotherapies and employed about 1,300 people as of last year.

However, when COVID-19 infections spread in China earlier this year, they formed a vaccine development team of 500 people and quickly developed more than 20 candidate substances that could be used as vaccines.

Subsequently, Pfizer selected BioNTech as a partner for joint vaccine development, and they began full-scale vaccine development in March in cooperation with the Chinese pharmaceutical company Fosun.

On the 9th, Pfizer announced preliminary results showing that the jointly developed COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated over 90% effectiveness in preventing infection in clinical trials, causing BioNTech's stock price to surge 23.4% that day, raising its market capitalization to $21.9 billion (approximately 25 trillion KRW).

Meanwhile, following the success news of BioNTech's vaccine development, the Berlin local newspaper Tagesspiegel praised, "The success of this couple is a remarkable achievement for German Turks, who have been regarded as a low-education class working in fruit and vegetable stores."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.