BioNTech is buying fellow German mRNA vaccine developer CureVac in an all-stock transaction that values the acquired biotech at $1.25 billion.
The announcement makes no specific mention of onboarding any of CureVac’s wholly-owned candidates, which are led by a phase 1-stage therapeutic mRNA vaccine for resected glioblastoma. Instead, BioNTech singled out CureVac’s “state-of-the-art” research and manufacturing site in Tübingen, Germany as a major prize.
The deal, which is expected to be finalized later this year, will see each CureVac share exchanged for around $5.46 worth of BioNTech American depository shares (ADSs)—above the $4 that CureVac’s stock closed at on Wednesday. This equates to an equity value of around $1.25 billion for CureVac. After the transaction, CureVac’s shareholders will own somewhere between 4% and 6% of BioNTech, according to a June 12 release.
BioNTech rose to prominence and financial success thanks to its partnership with Pfizer for the blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty. More recently, the company’s strategy to become a “fully integrated immunotherapy powerhouse” is seeing it gear up for a potential approval filing later this year for a next-gen HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate licensed from China’s DaulityBio.
The company is also working on two priority oncology programs in the form of the PD-L1xVEGF bispecific antibody BNT327 and its mRNA cancer immunotherapy platform.
BioNTech set today’s acquisition in the context of these cancer ambitions, claiming the deal “will strengthen the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy candidates, marking BioNTech’s next key milestone in the execution of its oncology strategy.”
“This transaction is another building block in BioNTech’s oncology strategy and an investment in the future of cancer medicine,” CEO Ugur Sahin, M.D., said in the Thursday release. “We intend to bring together complementary capabilities and leverage technologies with the goal of advancing the development of innovative and transformative cancer treatments and establishing new standards of care for various types of cancer in the coming years.”
CureVac has also attempted to pivot to oncology—laying off 30% of its staff in the process—after GSK handed over $430 million in upfront cash a year ago for the rights to CureVac’s vaccines against influenza and COVID-19.
CureVac CEO Alexander Zehnder, M.D., used this morning’s announcement to highlight the biotech’s similarity to its new owner.
“For more than two decades, both companies have operated with related ambitions, often tackling challenges from different angles,” Zehnder said. “This transaction aims at combining complementary scientific capabilities, proprietary technologies, and manufacturing expertise in the mRNA field under one roof.”
Assuming the acquisition is signed off by both companies’ shareholders, BioNTech will launch a corporate reorganization of CureVac, resulting in CureVac becoming a subsidiary of BioNTech.