BioNTech Founders Leaving to Start Company Focused on mRNA Products

The co-founders of BioNTech, which helped create one of the most-used COVID-19 vaccines, are departing the German company to start their own firm.

Drs. Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci will be leaving BioNTech by the end of the year, BioNTech said on March 10.

Sahin and Tureci, who are married, founded BioNTech in 2008 with Dr. Christopher Huber. The company helped develop the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which utilizes messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology to deliver instructions for the body to defend against COVID-19.

Hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine have been administered across the world, reaping windfalls for Pfizer and BioNTech, although sales have dropped in recent years as the pandemic ended and people became concerned about the flagging effectiveness and risk-benefit profile of the shots.

“Over the past 18 years, we have built BioNTech from a start-up into a global biopharmaceutical company with a strong and diversified pipeline. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we expanded beyond oncology to develop the first approved mRNA vaccine, helping to protect people worldwide. Today, the company is well positioned to advance its mission and evolve into a commercial multi-product company,” Sahin said in a statement.

“This is the right time to prepare to hand over the baton,” he said. “At the same time, Ozlem and I are ready to become pioneers once again. Our vision has always been to translate our science into meaningful advances for patients, and we see extraordinary opportunities to unlock the next generation of transformative innovations.”

Sahin and Tureci founded a different company, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, in 2001. Astellas Pharma later bought that firm.

The new company will be focused on advancing next-generation mRNA products.

BioNTech plans to “contribute related rights and mRNA technologies to the new company on an arm’s length basis in exchange for a minority stake and other forms of consideration such as milestones and royalties,” the company stated. A binding agreement is expected to be signed by mid-2026.

Helmut Jeggle, chairman of the BioNTech supervisory board, said in a statement about the founders leaving that “we support them in taking the opportunity to apply their strengths and undivided attention to a new venture, dedicated to enabling mRNA-based technologies to reach their full potential.”

BioNTech has not yet identified successors for Sahin, BioNTech’s CEO, or Tureci, its chief medical officer.

The company on Tuesday reported a net loss of $136 million in 2025, which was driven primarily by reduced demand for its COVID-19 vaccine. It is forecasting even lower vaccine revenues in 2026, citing declines in the U.S. and European markets.

Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. officials have in recent months scaled back recommendations for certain vaccines, including COVID-19 shots. They have also ended some investments in mRNA products, saying the technology does not work well against upper respiratory infections. U.S. regulators in February agreed to review an mRNA influenza shot from Moderna.