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BioNTech has acquired Chinese cancer drugmaker Biotheus in a near $1bn deal, as the Covid-19 vaccine maker taps into the country’s health sciences expertise to develop promising immunotherapy drugs.
The deal gives the German biotech control of a drug class that has shown potential to outperform Merck’s blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda, the best-selling drug globally in 2023 with $25bn in sales.
BioNTech will make $800mn in upfront payments to Biotheus, a drugmaker based in Guangdong province, with milestone payments of up to $150mn.
Uğur Şahin, chief executive of BioNTech, said the company believed that the Biotheus drug “has the potential to set a new standard of care in multiple oncology indications”.
The acquisition is the latest example of western drugmakers turning to Chinese companies to tap into innovation, often at lower cost.
Merck, GSK and AstraZeneca all struck licensing deals in the country last year, as part of a record $44.1bn of annual investment in Chinese biotechs, according to UBS research.
But the deal comes as the challenges of doing business in China have become more apparent for pharmaceutical companies.
AstraZeneca’s China president and former and current executives have been detained in cases allegedly involving the illegal importation of cancer drugs, while the US is moving to restrict collaboration between American pharmaceutical and biotech companies and key Chinese drug manufacturers through the Biosecure Act.
BioNTech is using its windfall from the Covid-19 vaccine that it produced with Pfizer to establish itself as an oncology specialist. It is making large investments in clinical trials to develop a portfolio of cancer vaccines and “antibody drug conjugates”, a targeted form of chemotherapy.
But it has yet to develop a clinically approved drug beyond its Covid-19 vaccine. Şahin previously told the Financial Times that it hoped to launch its first cancer treatment by 2026.
The company had previously reached a $55mn licensing deal with Biotheus but by acquiring the company, it will have full control over its BNT327/PM8002 drug, which it will advance through late-stage clinical trials in lung and breast cancers, the company said.
Keytruda has been approved in 40 different treatment areas. It is a type of drug known as a “checkpoint inhibitor”, which works by preventing cancer cells from disabling the immune system, allowing it to recognise and destroy tumour cells.
New drugs such as BioNTech’s newly acquired BNT327/PM8002 add a component that tackles VEGF, or vascular endothelial growth factor, which promotes tumour growth.
Shares in Summit Therapeutics, a US biotechnology company, rose from $12 to over $30 in September after it published data showing that its PDL-1-VEGF drug outperformed Keytruda in treating lung cancer.
BioNTech shares rose almost 40 per cent after Summit’s data was published, with investors assessing its drug as one of the most promising candidates in the field.
