BioNTech Strengthens Manufacturing Capabilities with First In-house Plasmid DNA Manufacturing Facility

BioNTech announced on Feb. 2, 2023 that it has completed construction of its first proprietary plasmid DNA manufacturing facility in Marburg, Germany. The investment of approximately €40 million is part of a long-term development plan aiming to increase the company’s autonomy and flexibility in manufacturing an important starting material for its oncology and COVID-19 vaccine pipeline.

Plasmid DNA is an important starting material for the manufacturing of mRNA-based vaccines and therapies, as well as cell therapies, according to the company. BioNTech plans to independently manufacture plasmid DNA for clinical product candidates and commercial products in the areas of cancer and infectious diseases. The company also expects the new facility to enable faster production cycles and shorter delivery times for plasmid DNA for a number of clinical product candidates and commercial products.

“Since we acquired our manufacturing site in Marburg in the fall of 2020, we have continuously invested in the site to expand our manufacturing capacities and capabilities. Plasmid manufacturing is an exciting and important part of mRNA manufacturing that we expect to be able to cover in-house soon,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, in a company press release. “We plan to manufacture mRNA-based products for a broad range of clinical trial candidates at our Marburg site while we are preparing production measures for the commercial manufacturingof personalized oncology therapeutics.”