In BioNTech’s search for a new CEO, the German company is looking for a new leader with “late-stage development and commercial execution experience,” Chief Financial Officer Ramon Zapata said on its quarterly conference call, following the announcement earlier Tuesday that Ugur Şahin, MD, and his wife, CMO Ozlem Tureci, MD, would leave by the end of the year to start a new company.
The company says it has several potential product announcements scheduled for the end of this “catalyst-rich year,” and Sahin said now is “the perfect time for the transition.”
Analysts at Leerink Partners agreed, calling the transition a “logical step” in a note to investors.
While Shahin and Tureci’s new company will usher in next-generation mRNA innovation, BioNTech will focus on late-stage execution and preparation for commercialization with the goal of becoming a “multi-product company by 2030,” the company said in its fourth quarter presentation (PDF).
“This is a sound decision by our board and management team, which has made a series of good strategic decisions during and after the coronavirus pandemic,” Leerink added. “We are also excited about the innovations that Professors Sahin and Tureci will be able to foster closely in our third entrepreneurial startup, which combines new mRNA technology and AI.”
“Without the founder’s insight into translational and clinical data, will the company be able to effectively iterate and scale its approach?” the analysts asked in a note. Investors seemed worried. Leerink wrote that BioNTech’s stock price fell 22% as the change “placed the company under pressure to deliver on its portfolio of late-stage cancer treatment assets and created uncertainty in the stock price.”
But BioNTech and this currently unnamed company will continue to be intertwined. Sahin said the new company would provide “relevant rights and mRNA technology” in exchange for a minority stake in BioNTech, adding that the two companies plan to sign a binding agreement by the end of the first half of this year.
BioNTech does not abandon the research and development focus for which the company was founded.
“We will continue to innovate,” Zapata said during the call. “At BioNTech, we have innovation drivers in Germany, China, and the United States, and we continue to deepen our pipeline of immunomodulators, ADCs, and mRNA technologies.”
Regarding BioNTech’s financials, the company reported a 4% increase in 2025 revenue to €2.9 billion ($3.3 billion) from sales of its COVID-19 vaccine. However, sales in the fourth quarter were 907 million euros ($1.02 billion), down 24% from a year earlier.
This year, BioNTech expects sales to be between 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) and 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion), and adjusted research and development expenses between 2.2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) and 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion). The company started 2026 with $17.2 billion in cash on hand.
