BioNTech Chief Executive Uğur Şahin said Saturday that the company is in talks with Turkey’s Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) to establish a branch in Turkey in 2021.
“We are bringing our products to Turkey for the first time. We are in talks with TÜBİTAK and have also started working with professors in some universities. We want to open a BioNTech office in Turkey, ”said Şahin in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency (AA).
Şahin noted that, aside from COVID-19 vaccines, BioNTech wants to collaborate with Turkey in several areas and conduct research and development (R&D) activities.
“We want to cooperate with Turkish universities and companies. In addition to these vaccines, we want to do cancer research in Turkey. There could be two to three projects in the first year, but we can increase their number if we are going to be successful, ”he said.
The CEO of BioNTech added that Turkey is their motherland and therefore it is a great pleasure for them to help Turkish people through vaccines.
Turkey has signed a deal with BioNTech, the German company behind the mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine, for up to 30 million doses of the shot, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet late Friday.
The current supply stands at 550,000 doses and Turkey will receive 4.5 million doses by the end of March, Koca added.
“Under our deal, up to 30 million doses will be provided on the same terms,” he said.
The BioNTech vaccine, co-developed with the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, has been approved for use in more than 45 countries, including Great Britain and the United States, as well as in the European Union.
The vaccine brought Şahin and his wife Özlem Türeci worldwide fame, and they were named People of the Year by the British newspaper the Financial Times.