BioNTech SE (NSDQ: BNTX) of Germany will partner with Shanghai Fosun Pharma (SHA: 600196; HK: 02196) in a $135 million deal to develop BioNTech's mRNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19 in China. Fosun will make a $50 million investment in BioNTech and pay up to $85 million in milestones. The two companies will work jointly to develop BNT162 in China and will share gross profits from China sales. Fosun will be in charge of China commercialization, while BioNTech will retain full rights in the rest of the world.

Currently in pre-clinical development, BNT162 is the first candidate from Project Lightspeed, BioNTech’s accelerated development program for COVID-19. The companies hope to start clinical trials in April.

BioNTech is developing next-gen immunotherapies for cancer and other serious diseases. Together with collaborators, the company is working on multiple mRNA vaccine candidates for a range of infectious diseases.

The company uses a number of computational discovery and therapeutic drug platforms to develop novel biopharmaceuticals. Its oncology candidates includes individualized and off-the-shelf mRNA-based therapies, innovative CAR-T cells, bi-specific checkpoint immuno-modulators, targeted cancer antibodies and small molecules.

BioNTech has established relationships with multiple global pharmas, including Eli Lilly, Genmab, Sanofi, Bayer Animal Health, Genentech, Genevant, Fosun Pharma and Pfizer.

“We see this collaboration as an important step in our global effort to expedite the development of our mRNA vaccine to prevent COVID-19 infection. Fosun Pharma shares our commitment to move rapidly to address the COVID-19 outbreak and brings deep development experience and an extensive network in the pharmaceutical market in China,” said Founder and CEO of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, MD.

Wu Yifang, President and CEO of Fosun Pharma said: “A potential pandemic requires a collective effort and both companies are passionate about contributing to the fight against the current coronavirus outbreak. We are excited to collaborate with BioNTech, one of the leading companies worldwide in the mRNA field. Our shared objective is to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus and to be able to rapidly manufacture a vaccine to turn the tide of COVID-19 infection.”

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Disclosure: none.