BioNTech chief executive Uğur Şahin said on Saturday that the company is in talks with the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) to establish a branch in Turkey in 2021.
“We bring our products to Turkey for the first time. We are in talks with TÜBİTAK and have also started working with professors at some universities. We want to open a BioNTech branch in Turkey, ”Şahin said in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency (AA).
Şahin noted that, apart from COVID-19 vaccines, BioNTech wants to collaborate with Turkey in different fields and carry out research and development (R&D) activities.
“We want to collaborate with Turkish universities and companies. Apart from these vaccines, we want to conduct cancer research in Turkey. There could be two or three projects in the first year, but we can increase their number if we are successful, ”he said.
The CEO of BioNTech added that Turkey is their homeland and therefore it is a great pleasure for them to help the Turks through vaccines.
Turkey has signed an agreement with BioNTech, the German company behind the mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine, for up to 30 million doses of the sting, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet last Friday.
The current stock is 550,000 doses and Turkey will get 4.5 million doses by the end of March, Koca added.
“Under our agreement, up to 30 million doses will be provided under the same conditions,” he said.
The BioNTech vaccine, developed in conjunction with the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, is authorized for use in more than 45 countries, including Britain and the United States, as well as in the European Union.
The vaccine brought Şahin and his wife Özlem Türeci world fame, and they were named the British newspaper People of the Year by the Financial Times.