BioNTech Lifts Covid Shot Forecast to Almost $20 Billion

(Bloomberg) --

BioNTech SE raised its forecast for this year’s Covid-19 vaccine sales to as much as 17 billion euros ($19.7 billion), lifting the estimate once more as the pandemic drags on and countries order more shots. 

BioNTech and partner Pfizer Inc. have signed contracts to deliver some 2.5 billion doses of the vaccine this year, and expect to manufacture as many as 3 billion doses by year end, the Mainz, Germany-based company said on Tuesday. 

The windfall from the vaccine -- the best-selling pharmaceutical product of all time in a given year -- has given BioNTech the funds to push the rest of its experimental pipeline forward. It’s also raised the pressure on the German biotech to show that its growth can be sustained even as its Covid sales wane in coming years. 

BioNTech shares rose 1% in U.S. trading before exchanges opened. They have dropped almost 50% from their high on Aug. 9 as Pfizer and U.S. pharma giant Merck & Co. reported breakthroughs on Covid pills and rival vaccine maker Moderna Inc. warned that it wouldn’t hit its delivery targets for this year.

The company has four programs in mid-stage clinical trials for cancer treatments, including one for high-risk colorectal cancer patients, Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin said in a statement. It will report positive clinical data from six oncology programs at an upcoming conference, showing “favorable safety profiles and robust immune responses,” he said. 

The biotech firm had previously predicted 15.9 billion euros in revenue this year from deliveries of 2.2 billion doses of its only marketed product. Production of the shots could rise by a third to reach 4 billion doses next year, it said. 

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