BioNtech to buy CureVac in $1.25 billion share deal to boost cancer focus

German biotech firm BioNTech has agreed to acquire domestic peer CureVac for about $1.25 billion worth of BioNTech shares, it said on Thursday, to boost its work on new mRNA-based cancer treatments.

 

Under the agreed deal, which pairs two former rivals in the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines, each CureVac share will be exchanged for about $5.46 in BioNTech American depositary shares, or ADS, BioNTech said.

 

The deal further underscores BioNTech's costly long-term ambition to focus on new cancer treatments and show that its success as Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine partner, which left its balance sheet flush with billions of euros in cash, was not a fluke.

 

"With the acquisition, BioNTech aims to strengthen the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of investigational mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy," it said.

 

CureVac about a year ago opted to focus on oncology when it agreed to sell its remaining influenza and COVID-19 vaccine development to its alliance partner, Britain's GSK.

 

It had previously cut jobs as it sought to move beyond its failure to develop an mRNA-based COVID vaccine during the pandemic.

BioNTech last week won a major shot in the arm for its cancer drug activities when Bristol Myers Squibb agreed to pay up to $11.1 billion to jointly develop a next-generation cancer immunotherapy that could take on rival Merck & Co's best-selling drug Keytruda.

 

The company said payment in BioNTech shares would be subject to a collar mechanism - if the 10-day volume-weighted average price of BioNTech ADS shortly before the closing of the offer exceeds $126.55, the exchange ratio would be 0.04318, and if the price is lower than $84.37, the exchange ratio would be 0.06476.

 

CureVac shareholders are expected to own between 4% and 6% of BioNTech after the deal closes, it added.