BioNTech Clears Board Overhaul and $1B Buyback as ASCO Data Beckons for Key Cancer Drug

BioNTech shareholders approve board expansion, 1,860 job cuts, and founders’ 2026 departure as the biotech shifts from COVID vaccines to oncology, targeting €500M annual savings.

BioNTech is navigating a transformation that is as much about corporate reinvention as it is about clinical validation. The German biotech, which shot to prominence on the back of its COVID-19 vaccine, is now racing to cement its future in oncology — and the next few weeks will deliver a major readout on whether that bet is paying off.

At the company’s virtual annual general meeting on Friday, shareholders representing 92% of the share capital approved all resolutions on the agenda. The most consequential was the expansion of the supervisory board from six to eight seats. New appointees Prof. Iris Löw-Friedrich and Susanne Schaffert bring deep expertise in clinical development, oncology and commercialisation — a clear signal that the board’s composition is being recalibrated for a post-COVID, cancer-focused era. Helmut Jeggle will remain on the board and has been elected chairman, while Prof. Anja Morawietz and Prof. Rudolf Staudigl secured renewed mandates.

The restructuring plan approved alongside those board changes is brutal by any measure. BioNTech will close production sites in Marburg, Idar-Oberstein, Tübingen and Singapore, cutting up to 1,860 jobs. The moves are designed to slash costs by €500 million annually from 2029. Management described the decisions as necessary to pivot the company’s industrial footprint toward oncology manufacturing and away from the massive vaccine capacity built during the pandemic.

The most symbolic change involves the founders. Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci will leave the company at the end of 2026 to launch a new mRNA research venture. BioNTech will hold a minority stake in that spin-off and retain ownership of its existing patent portfolio. The departure marks a clean break from the COVID era, even as Sahin remains chief executive in the interim.

All this comes at a steep financial cost. In the last fiscal year, revenue reached €2.87 billion — a figure that beat forecasts — but the company still posted a net loss as R&D spending exceeded €2 billion. For 2026, management guided for revenue of €2.0?billion to €2.3?billion, while research costs are expected to run between €2.2?billion and €2.5?billion. Selling, general and administrative expenses are pegged at €700?million to €800?million. A cash pile of roughly €17?billion provides a cushion, but the burn rate underscores the urgency of delivering clinical wins.

Shareholders will receive no dividend for 2025, but the AGM approved a new share buyback program authorising the company to repurchase up to $1?billion of its own stock over the next twelve months. In a separate technical move, the meeting also green-lit the “Authorized Capital 2026”, which can cover up to half of the current share capital and replaces the remaining authority from the prior year. Additionally, a control and profit transfer agreement for BioNTech Discovery GmbH was approved, allowing the parent to offset subsidiary profits against its own losses for tax purposes — a dry but strategically useful step as the group pumps money into R&D.

On the clinical front, the pipeline now includes 17 programmes in development, with over 25 active phase?2 and phase?3 trials encompassing more than 4,000 patients. The flagship asset is pumitamig, a bispecific immunomodulator being co-developed with Bristol Myers Squibb. That partnership has already delivered a $3.5?billion upfront payment. End of May, the company will present phase?2 data on pumitamig at the ASCO meeting, including results from a lung cancer study that pits the drug directly against pembrolizumab. Ugur Sahin has described pumitamig as the company’s “flagship programme”, citing activity across multiple tumour types. A strong showing would provide the first major external validation that BioNTech’s oncology pivot is working, with management aiming for several cancer drug approvals by 2030.

The stock, however, has been under sustained pressure. Shares closed on Friday at €76.95 in Frankfurt, bringing the 30-day decline to 8%. The price is roughly 11% below its 200-day moving average, and traders are watching the year low of €72.50 as the next technical support level. Analyst opinion remains sharply divided: Berenberg cut its price target on May?12 but still calls the shares deeply undervalued. Of 19 analysts covering the name, 15 rate it a “Strong Buy” while four hold at “Hold”, with price targets ranging from $94 to $171. That wide spread reflects how much the valuation hinges on clinical data yet to come.

With ASCO looming and the restructuring now formally underway, BioNTech faces a defining summer. The next major test of its oncology strategy will play out before a scientific audience — and the market will be watching closely.