BioNTech's Oncology Pivot Gathers Pace as Cathie Wood Disposes of Shares and Factory Closures Begin

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest trims BioNTech stake after patent win as biotech prepares cancer drug filing; stock down 4.9% weekly.

BioNTech is executing a delicate balancing act. The Mainz-based biotech is busy winding down its pandemic-era manufacturing footprint while simultaneously readying its first wholly owned cancer drug for a US regulatory filing. Alongside these operational shifts, one of Wall Street’s most closely watched growth investors has been quietly trimming her exposure to the stock.

The shares closed Friday at €80.15, down 1.66% on the day and 4.92% lower week-on-week. Over a rolling 30-day stretch, however, the stock has risen 7.30% from its March low of €68.35, though it still sits 23.44% below the January 52-week high of €105.80. The five-year return is deeply negative: a 57.5% decline.

Ark Invest Pivots to SpaceX

On 8 July, Cathie Wood’s ARKG Genomic Revolution ETF offloaded 78,211 BioNTech shares worth roughly $7.4 million. The sale followed a 44,330-share disposal the previous day, marking two consecutive sessions of position reduction. Proceeds from the sales were channelled into SpaceX, a non-public holding that Wood has been adding to aggressively.

The timing is notable. Just days earlier, the Unified Patent Court in Europe had dismissed an mRNA patent lawsuit against BioNTech and its partner Pfizer — a clear positive for the company. Wood appears to have used the favourable news to lock in proceeds rather than accumulate.

The BioNTech cuts fit into a broader rebalancing at Ark Invest. The firm also sold down stakes in Advanced Micro Devices, Roku, and several biotech names during the same period, while increasing its holding in Eli Lilly. The cumulative effect is visible in the fund flows: the flagship Ark Innovation ETF suffered net outflows of roughly $1.21 billion in the twelve months to 7 July, according to ETF data provider VettaFi.

Valuation Under the Microscope

Against that backdrop, an independent valuation review published the same Friday concluded that BioNTech’s current price already embeds considerable optimism. The shares trade at a price-to-sales ratio of 7.3 — marginally above the biotech peer group average of 7.1 but well below the broader industrials benchmark of 12.0. The analyst’s fair-value model derives a P/S of 5.3, suggesting the market is pricing in future success that has not yet materialised.

One factor weighing on the assessment is the ongoing production overhaul. BioNTech intends to exit three German manufacturing sites — Idar-Oberstein, Marburg and Tübingen — plus a facility in Singapore. The closures are expected to be completed by the end of 2027 and could affect around 1,860 jobs. The company cited post-pandemic demand normalisation as the driver; capacity built for billions of vaccine doses no longer fits the current business.

Negotiations with potential buyers for the plants are under way, though details remain confidential. Rival Moderna has expressed conditional interest in the German sites, but only if an agreement with the federal government can be reached to secure long-term mRNA production in Germany.

A Cash-Rich Platform for Transformation

Despite the contraction in manufacturing, BioNTech enters its next phase with formidable financial firepower. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, the company reported cash, cash equivalents and securities of approximately €16.8 billion. That war chest funds an oncology pipeline that includes more than 25 trials in Phase 2 and Phase 3.

The first product expected to reach regulators is Trastuzumab Pamirtecan (T-Pam), an antibody-drug conjugate developed with Duality Biologics, initially targeting pre-treated HER2-expressing endometrial cancer. Commercial chief Annemarie Hanekamp described the planned FDA submission as a “strategic springboard” — not merely for T-Pam itself but for testing the entire oncology sales infrastructure BioNTech is building from scratch.

The real prize, however, is Pumitamig, a bispecific PD-L1xVEGF-A antibody developed in partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb. Hanekamp called it the company’s “crown jewel” and the primary growth driver for the years ahead.

Technical Cross-Currents

Technically, the stock sits almost exactly on its 50-day moving average of €79.38 but remains 5.85% below the 200-day average — a picture of indecision. The relative strength index stands at a neutral 51, and annualised 30-day volatility hovers near 29%, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding the transition.

The remainder of 2026 brings several late-stage readouts from large cancer indications, according to the company. These data points will form the basis of future regulatory submissions. The overarching goal is to have multiple approved drugs for oncology and infectious diseases being marketed simultaneously by 2030.

For now, the market is effectively underwriting that ambition through elevated valuation multiples, even as a prominent growth investor exits stage left. The crucial variable — how quickly the pipeline can compensate for the vanishing Covid revenue — remains unanswered.