Mainz-based biotechnology company BioNTech has confirmed plans to shutter three manufacturing sites in Germany and one in Singapore following unsuccessful attempts to sell the facilities. The affected German locations are in Marburg, Idar-Oberstein, and Tübingen.
The company stated that its efforts to find buyers for these assets had failed due to a challenging market and investment environment. In May, BioNTech had announced its intention to sell these facilities as part of a broader restructuring of its manufacturing operations.
The decision will impact approximately 1,800 employees in Germany, consistent with the company’s earlier estimate that up to 1,860 positions could be affected by the wider restructuring. BioNTech revealed that it has reached agreements with the works council regarding additional redundancy terms for the affected staff.
Since developing its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in partnership with Pfizer, global demand for the shots has dropped significantly, leaving BioNTech with excess production capacity. The firm is now shifting its focus to its oncology pipeline and projects that the restructuring measures could yield annual savings of around €500 million ($587 million).
Singapore closing too? That’s a global move. Makes me wonder how much they can actually cut without hurting R&D output.
Can they really save half a billion Euros just by shutting plants? Construction and operational costs are complex.
I thought BioNTech was one of the few German biotech success stories. This market reality check is a bit worrying for the sector.
Interesting pivot to oncology. With COVID demand gone, scaling back makes strategic sense, even if it hurts locally.
1,800 jobs lost is devastating. I hope the redundancy terms are generous and the staff gets proper support during this transition.