The co-founders of BioNTech will leave the company to launch a new mRNA-focused entity, amid mounting losses for the vaccine specialist.
Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci established BioNTech in 2008 – the husband-and-wife team currently serve as CEO and chief medical officer, respectively. In its full year 2025 results, BioNTech said the co-founders will step down by the end of 2026. A search is currently ongoing to identify their successors.
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The new company, which Şahin and Türeci will lead, will concentrate on mRNA technologies. The new company will have distinct resources, operations and funding, though BioNTech will contribute certain mRNA tech to help speed development of new candidates. Citi analysts said the announcement was “a surprise that headlined earnings”.
The announcement came as the German group’s Q4 2025 revenue dropped to €907.4m ($1.05bn), down 25% from €1.2bn in 2024. While full-year revenue increased due to funds generated from a collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), BioNTech’s net losses rose 57% to €1.1bn in 2025, compared with €665.3m in the previous year.
Şahin and Türeci’s departures mark the end of an era for BioNTech that saw the company emerge as one of the world’s leading biotechs. The company’s share price peaked during the Covid-19 pandemic after it pioneered the first ever approved mRNA jabs in partnership with Pfizer.
As demand for Covid treatments and therapeutics has waned, so too has BioNTech’s share price. The company is trading more than 75% down from its highs in mid-2021. Seeking a strategic pivot, BioNTech is targeting oncology to boost its bottom line.
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By GlobalDataAt the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January 2026, Sahin said the ambition for BioNTech was to become a fully integrated multiproduct oncology company. BioNTech currently has more than 25 Phase II and III programmes underway across oncology and 10 novel-combination trials. Modalities in its cancer pipeline include next generation immunomodulators, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), and mRNA cancer immunotherapies.
Adding more reaction to the corporate shakeup, Citi analysts commented: “While we understand jitters surrounding leadership changes, BioNTech has evolved to a point where the pipeline has multiple phase III opportunities ahead along with a transition to commercial stage.”
In June 2025, BMS outlaid up to $11bn to partner with BioNTech in the development and commercialisation of pumitamig, a cancer drug in late-stage trials that aims to take on MSD’s megablockuster Keytruda (pembrolizumab). Citi analysts forecast that pumitamig could generate more than €2bn by 2032. BioNTech also acquired German rival CureVac last year in a $1.25bn deal, expanding its cancer immunotherapy pipeline.
The announcement comes against the backdrop of a volatile mRNA sector in the US. Technology using mRNA has firmly been in the regulatory crosshairs of US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr), who has continually voiced his criticism of mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines, questioning both their efficacy and safety. This culminated in a $500m federal funding cut to mRNA vaccine research funding in 2025. Moderna has also been on the receiving end of mixed signals from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its new mRNA flu vaccine, reflecting regulatory uncertainty in the field.
