Covid vaccine maker BioNTech to close three sites in Germany

German pharmaceutical giant BioNTech, known worldwide for its development of a coronavirus vaccine, is set to close three plants in Germany, affecting 1,800 jobs. 

The Mainz-based company said on Monday that it will shutter the sites in Tübingen, Marburg and Idar-Oberstein, after no buyer could be found to take them on. 

Tübingen will shut at the end of 2027, Marburg at the start of 2028, and Idar-Oberstein at the end of 2028.

BioNTech, along with its US partner Pfizer, was the first company to receive marketing authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine, earning billions in the process.

The firm became world-famous, but demand for the Covid-19 vaccine has been falling for several years now, and BioNTech has not yet brought any other products to market.

BioNTech explained that the failure to sell the facilities was primarily due to the current difficult market and investment climate.

It had announced in the spring that it no longer intended to operate the three sites, citing low capacity utilization, overcapacity, cost savings and a focus on oncology as its reasons.

Internal experts and professional brokers had explored the sale of the sites, BioNTech said. 

International, national and mid-sized companies and investors were approached, including those active in the manufacture of mRNA, antibodies and plasmids as well as in cell and gene therapy. All sites had undergone due diligence and confidential talks, but they did not result in a deal.

In order to ensure that the site closures are carried out in a socially responsible manner, supplementary redundancy terms have been agreed with the company's works council, the firm said.

Major changes at BioNTech

The Marburg plant has produced mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines as well as plasmid DNA, a key raw material for mRNA vaccines and cell therapies. 

The Idar-Oberstein plant used to be owned by rival Curevac, but BioNTech took over the firm in 2025. Curevac founder Ingmar Hoerr accused BioNTech of deception when it emerged that the factory was going to be shut, saying the new owner had abandoned the conditions of the sale. 

BioNTech, which employs around 7,200 people worldwide, has been undergoing a process of transformation and restructuring for several years. Research is being carried out into a whole range of new products, particularly in the field of oncology. 

The company is also focusing on mRNA-based immunotherapies and the use of antibodies and medicines in combination. The aim is to use antibodies to deliver chemotherapy drugs to cancer cells in a more targeted manner.

All of this costs a lot of money, and BioNTech has been making major losses. In the first six months of this year, the bottom line showed a loss of €1.35 billion ($1.53 billion). 

On top of this, the company's key figures and founders, Uğur Şahin und Özlem Türeci, are set to leave the company by the end of the year and devote themselves to developing the next generation of mRNA-based medicines in a new company.