Power Couple Rides Immune-Oncology Success With Vaccine Plan
- Faster computing, DNA sequencing fuel BioNTech’s approach
- Immune cancer treatments were a ‘crazy idea’ when work began
When the founders of BioNTech AG started their first company in 2001, their European colleagues who attended a gathering to discuss fighting cancer with the immune system could fit in a small university hospital conference room.
This year, some 2,000 immunologists will crowd into the annual meeting on the banks of the Rhine in Mainz to talk about advances in cancer immunotherapy. One offshoot -- immune oncology drugs like Merck & Co.’s Keytruda -- has already revamped cancer treatment, with sales expected to reach $19 billion this year. Those successes are fueling hope for biotechs like Oezlem Tuereci and Ugur Sahin’s BioNTech that are developing therapies once seen as a long shot: personalized vaccines that train the body’s T-cells to attack tumors.