BioNTech Slashes 1,860 Jobs and Closes Four Plants as Oncology Pipeline Takes Centre Stage

BioNTech restructures amid Covid vaccine slump, closing four manufacturing sites and cutting 1,860 jobs to focus on oncology, with pumitamig trials as key catalysts.

BioNTech is executing a dramatic restructuring that signals the end of its pandemic-era expansion and the beginning of a high-stakes bet on cancer therapies. The Mainz-based biotech will shutter four manufacturing sites — in Idar-Oberstein, Marburg, Tübingen and Singapore — eliminating approximately 1,860 positions by the end of next year. The Singapore facility is set to close in the first quarter, while the German sites will wind down through 2027.

The move comes as the company grapples with collapsing demand for its Covid-19 vaccine. First-quarter revenue fell to around €118 million, down from nearly €183 million in the same period last year. The operating loss ballooned to €677.5 million, driven by heavy research spending. Management now forecasts full-year sales of no more than €2.3 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Ramón Zapata cited underutilised capacity as the rationale for the closures. BioNTech is exploring the sale of the affected plants, targeting annual cost savings of up to €500 million by 2029. A massive cash pile of €16.8 billion provides ample cushion for the overhaul, with up to $1 billion earmarked for a share buyback programme.

Investors have responded with caution. The stock traded at €79.80 recently, down nearly 10 percent on the week and below its 50-day moving average. That puts the shares roughly 20 percent below their 52-week high. Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo nonetheless issued buy ratings on Thursday, betting that the oncology pivot will eventually pay off.

The centrepiece of that bet is pumitamig (BNT327), an antibody that combines PD-L1 checkpoint inhibition with VEGF-A neutralisation, developed in partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb. Five pivotal studies have already launched this year targeting breast, colorectal, gastric and two lung cancer indications. In April, BioNTech struck another deal with Boehringer Ingelheim to test pumitamig alongside the T-cell engager obrixtamig in small-cell lung cancer, with Boehringer taking regulatory responsibility for the Phase 1b/2 trial.

The next major catalyst arrives at the ASCO conference, running from 29 May to 2 June. BioNTech will present Phase 2 data from the ROSETTA-Lung-02 study, which compares pumitamig plus chemotherapy against the established standard of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. How convincingly pumitamig performs in that head-to-head will determine whether the stock can break out of its current malaise.

Management expects six late-stage readouts this year that could decide the approval prospects for its oncology candidates. Goldman Sachs estimates the addressable market for BioNTech’s pipeline exceeds $100 billion. For now, though, the share price remains tethered to clinical results rather than financial fundamentals. The RSI sits at roughly 49, signalling a neutral market stance — and leaving the stock vulnerable until the data delivers a clearer direction.