It has already become apparent in the past few months. The coronavirus is not gone, people are still getting sick. But Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach declared the pandemic over almost a year ago. Large parts of the population are tired of vaccinations. On March 15, for example, only 466 people were vaccinated, one for the first time, and for 250 it was the fifth vaccination, according to the vaccination rate monitoring Robert Koch Institute. However, the Standing Vaccination Commission only recommends an annual booster vaccination for particularly vulnerable groups of people. Since vaccinations against the coronavirus began at the end of December 2020, almost 200 million doses of vaccine have been administered in Germany, the majority coming from the Mainz company Biontech.
The fact that fewer doses are being injected is clearly shown in Biontech’s figures. In the 2023 financial year, sales fell to 3.8 billion euros after 17.3 billion in the previous year, the company announced on Wednesday. Net profit fell to a good 930 million euros from 9.4 billion previously. The US partner Pfizer had already reported a slump in sales and profits in January. Last year, both companies suffered from write-downs at Pfizer on vaccine stocks that had expired or were about to expire.
Biontech wants to bring the first cancer drug onto the market in 2026. Co-founder and CEO Ugur Sahin is aiming for approvals in ten indications by 2030. “We believe that we have several irons in the fire with our candidates,” said co-founder and board member Özlem Türeci in the analyst conference, according to the company. Development and studies cost a lot of money. This year, 2.4 to 2.6 billion euros are expected to flow into research and development; in 2023 it was 1.78 billion.
In July, a second woman, Annemarie Hanekamp, is expected to join the board. She succeeds Sean Marett, who is retiring. Hanekamp comes from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis.