BioNTech reported its financial results from the first quarter of 2026, along with multiple company updates.

According to BioNTech, the first quarter figures reflect declining Covid-19 vaccine sales and the company’s accelerated investment in its oncology pipeline. Alongside the finical updates, BioNTech also announced a significant consolidation of its global manufacturing footprint.

What were the finical results from the first quarter?

According to BioNTech’s report, revenue fell to $138 million in the first quarter of 2026, down from $213.8 million in the same period a year earlier, with the decline driven primarily by lower Covid-19 vaccine revenues.¹ Along with financial impacts, Covid-19 research also took a hit this year, with BioNTech and Pfizer pausing a large U.S clinical trial earlier this year due to enrollment shortcomings.

Net loss widened to $622.3 million from $486.5 million, reflecting higher research and development expenses of $651.6, up from $614.9 million, driven by increased spending on oncology and antibody-drug conjugate programs, particularly pumitamig and gotistobart, as well as costs from entities acquired in 2025, including BioNTech China and CureVac.¹

The company reaffirmed its full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $2.3 to $2.6 billion and maintained a strong cash position of $19.6 billion as of March 31.¹ BioNTech also announced a share repurchase program of up to $1.0 billion over the next twelve months, intended to enhance capital efficiency and support long-term value creation.²

"Our revenues for the first quarter reflect the seasonal demand for Covid-19 vaccines and are in line with our expectations," said Ramón Zapata, chief financial officer at BioNTech. "We are committed to a diligent capital allocation strategy that empowers us to pursue our goal of evolving into a leading biopharmaceutical company with multiple oncology products by 2030."

What is happening with BioNTech’s oncology pipeline?

The first quarter of 2026 saw significant expansion of BioNTech's lead oncology program, pumitamig, a bispecific immunomodulator combining PD-L1 checkpoint inhibition with VEGF-A neutralization, being developed in collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb.²

In the R&D space, five new pivotal trials were initiated in the first quarter alone, spanning first-line triple-negative breast cancer, microsatellite stable colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, and two non-small cell lung cancer settings.¹

Gotistobart, a CTLA-4 targeting candidate being developed with OncoC4, showed a clinically meaningful overall survival benefit in squamous NSCLC at the European Lung Cancer Congress in March, with interim data from the pivotal stage of its Phase III trial expected later in 2026.¹

Prof. Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder, said: "In the first quarter, we made substantial progress in executing towards our oncology strategy, highlighted by data presentations from our priority pan-tumor program pumitamig as well as our versatile antibody-drug conjugate portfolio. We will continue to focus on accelerating our key strategic programs as we remain steadfast in our vision to translate our science into survival for patients living with cancer."

What company changes are planned?

Along with its financial results, BioNTech also announced plans to exit operations at manufacturing sites in Idar-Oberstein, Marburg, and Singapore, as well as CureVac's sites, affecting approximately 1,860 positions in total.¹

The German site exits are planned for the end of 2027, while Singapore operations are expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2027. The company says it is exploring divestment options for each site and expects the consolidation to generate approximately $584.9 million in recurring annual savings by 2029, which will be redirected toward advancing its oncology pipeline toward commercialization.¹

Aside from shutting down manufacturing sites, key leadership changes are in plan, with Sahin and co-founder Özlem Türeci expected to transition out of BioNTech by the end of 2026.

Upon their departure, Sahin and Türeci are expected to lead a new independent company focused on next-generation mRNA innovations, with BioNTech's supervisory board conducting an executive search for their successors.¹

Sources

1. BioNTech Announces First Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Corporate Update BioNTech May 5, 2026 https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-announces-first-quarter-2026-financial-results-and
2. First Quarter 2026 Financial Results & Corporate Update BioNTech May 5, 2026 https://investors.biontech.de/static-files/344bd0c6-3d36-40a1-9488-f2e401cd51a1