BioNTech pledges major UK investment
Posted: 21 May 2025 | Catherine Eckford (European Pharmaceutical Review) | No comments yet
BioNTech’s commitment aligns with the UK government’s Plan for Change, which involves accelerating growth of the pharmaceutical industry.
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BioNTech SE has expanded its partnership with the UK Government with plans to invest up to £1 billion on R&D in the UK over the next decade.
It is one of the biggest investments in UK history for a pharmaceutical company.
It’s ambitions will be supported through a grant of up to £129 million from the UK government over this period. Overall, the agreement will aid development of innovative medicines in the country.
The collaboration between BioNTech and the UK government focuses on three key areas:
- accelerating oncology clinical trials for BioNTech’s investigational medicines
- investment to increase BioNTech’s UK R&D footprint
- research into certain areas such as regenerative medicine and infectious disease vaccines.
The multi-year partnership with the UK government aims to provide up to 10,000 patients with investigational personalised cancer immunotherapies by 2030, according to the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
Richard Torbett, Chief Executive of the ABPI stated that the UK “has an opportunity to capture more of the global science pie if we can improve our competitive offering to the sector.”
“This agreement marks the next chapter of our successful strategic partnership with the UK government”
BioNTech stated that it plans to use the grant to help establish two new R&D centres. The first, situated in Cambridge, is intended to focus on areas such as oncology and regenerative medicine.
In addition, the company plans to site its UK HQ in London. The pharmaceutical company will house an artificial intelligence (AI) hub, dedicated to understanding the causes of disease, drug target selection and predictive analytics.
BioNTech and the UK government’s partnership
The next chapter
“This agreement marks the next chapter of our successful strategic partnership with the UK government. Together, we have already made a meaningful difference in expanding access to investigational personalised cancer therapies for patients.
“Now, we are taking the next step to accelerate and broaden our research and development efforts advancing towards our vision to translate science into survival for patients,” explained CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, Uğur Şahin.
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