BioNTech to manufacture mRNA vaccines in Singapore

Company to set up regional headquarters, production facility scheduled to be operational in 2023

BioNTech said yesterday it plans to set up a regional headquarters and build a manufacturing site for its vaccines based on messenger RNA technology (mRNA) in Singapore, in the latest move to expand its production network.

The biotech company said the Singapore production facility will have an estimated annual capacity of several hundred million doses of mRNA-based vaccines depending on the specific type, once it is operational in 2023.

BioNTech said its expansion plans were supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board and would increase the global supply of mRNA-based vaccines and establish a production facility in Southeast Asia to respond rapidly to future pandemics.

“Having multiple nodes in our production network is an important strategic step in building out our global footprint and capabilities,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and cofounder of BioNTech.

Governments around the world are looking to build up local vaccine production to secure access to supplies after manufacturing setbacks have slowed the rollout of Covid-19 doses in some countries.

BioNTech plans to open the Singapore office in 2021 and expects the manufacturing site to be operational by 2023, creating up to 80 jobs in Singapore.

The establishment of a Southeast Asia regional hub comes after BioNTech, based in Mainz, Germany, set up a US headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2020.

The vaccine produced by BioNTech jointly with Pfizer of the United States became the first Covid-19 jab to be approved for use in the West late last year. It is now supplying more than 90 countries worldwide, and is expecting to ramp up its production to up to three billion doses by the end of the year from 2.5 billion doses expected previously.

The pace will further accelerate to more than three billion doses in 2022.

The Singapore production site will be the German company’s first mRNA manufacturing facility outside Europe. – Reuters, AFP