BioNTech to price COVID-19 vaccine below market rates

FRANKFURT: BioNTech, first in the race to produce evidence of a working COVID-19 vaccine, is planning to price the two-shot regimen below “typical market rates” and would differentiate pricing between countries or regions.

Speaking at a Financial Times online event, the German biotech firm’s strategy head Ryan Richardson said the price tag of the vaccine, which is co-developed with Pfizer and which has yet to win regulatory approval, would reflect the financial risks that its private-sector investors have incurred.

“We’ve tried to pursue a balanced approach that recognises that innovation requires capital and investment so we plan to price our vaccine well below typical market rates reflecting the situation that we’re in and with the goal to insure broad-based access around the world,” Richardson said at the FT event.

“I expect there to be differential pricing in certain regions of the world,” he added, declining to elaborate on the different price tags.

Pfizer and BioNTech are the first drugmakers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek US emergency use authorization later this month.