BioNTech is turning off the lights at its Singapore factory and planned regional headquarters, which it bought from Novartis at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, reflecting a sharp reversal in the mRNA specialist’s trajectory since the end of the pandemic.
After a comprehensive review, BioNTech has decided to “close our planned Singapore location by the end of February 2027,” the company confirmed to Fierce in a statement on Thursday. The move comes as the German biotech company continues to “adjust our clinical portfolio and long-term strategic direction and capabilities.”
Several local publications first reported the factory closure early Thursday.
BioNTech announced in November 2022 that it would buy the Singapore facility from Novartis, the same year the company posted sales of €17.3 billion thanks to the huge success of its COVID-19 response Comirnaty in partnership with Pfizer.
Most recently, the company reported full-year 2025 sales of 2.9 billion euros ($3.3 billion). The coronavirus reversal in commercial performance is not unique to BioNTech. The company’s partner Pfizer and rival Moderna have also suffered from declining vaccine sales in recent years.
“We remain committed to cost-effective value creation as we continue to invest to realize our vision,” BioNTech continued in a statement.
“We actively manage our entire pipeline and evaluate all sites across BioNTech according to key criteria: strategic alignment, operational efficiency, and sustainable value creation,” BioNTech explained. “Therefore, we will continue to make significant investments in key areas and optimize our capabilities in other areas.”
BioNTech’s deal with Novartis comes about 18 months after the company telegraphed plans to expand its mRNA footprint with a Singapore Economic Development Board-backed manufacturing facility.
At the time, BioNTech said that once operational by late 2023, the factory in Singapore’s Tuas Biomedical Park would have the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses of mRNA vaccines each year.
According to Singapore’s English-language daily The Straits Times, BioNTech currently has about 85 employees at its Singapore office. The company said in a statement that it will provide severance pay and outplacement assistance to workers affected by the closure.
Although BioNTech remains focused on the grindstone of research and development despite recent commercial downturns, the company’s future is currently a little uncertain following the announcement in March that CEO Ugur Şahin, MD, and his co-founder and wife, Ozlem Tureci, MD, BioNTech’s chief medical officer, would be stepping down by the end of the year to form a new company focused on “next generation mRNA.” Innovation. ”
BioNTech is looking to evolve beyond its original commercial roots in COVID, recently touting its goal of becoming a “fully integrated immunotherapy leading company,” with multiple late-stage oncology programs now in the hopper.
