On 13 November 2024, BioNTech announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Biotheus together with global rights to Biotheus’ late-stage clinical asset, BNT327/PM8002, an investigational bispecific antibody targeting PD-L1 and VEGF-A.
Under the agreement, BioNTech will make an upfront payment of US$800 million with additional performance-based, milestone-contingent payments of up to US$150 million. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2025, subject to closing conditions including regulatory approvals.
BioNTech considers that BNT327/PM8002 “has the potential to set a new standard of care in multiple oncology indications” and could be used in combination with its investigational mRNA vaccines, targeted therapies, and immunomodulators. It is planned that multiple trials will start in 2024 and 2025 evaluating BNT327/PM8002 plus chemotherapy in various solid tumour indications including in small cell lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer.
On 11 January 2024, BioNTech signed a $20M research service agreement with WuXi Biologics to develop two monoclonal antibody therapeutics.