BioNTech provides Update on Vaccine Production Status at Marburg Manufacturing Site
BioNTech SE today announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccine drug product at the facility in Marburg. As part of the process, EMA has approved the production of the drug substance, the mRNA, at the Marburg site over the course of this week. The approvals make BioNTech’s Marburg manufacturing site one of the largest mRNA vaccine manufacturing sites in Europe as well as worldwide with an annual production capacity of up to one billion doses of our COVID-19 vaccine, once fully operational. Due to optimized operational efficiencies which were initiated last year, BioNTech has been able to increase the expected annual manufacturing capacity by 250 million doses.
A single mRNA batch of the current scale is sufficient to produce around eight million vaccine doses. Currently, 400 BioNTech employees work in Marburg, 200 of them in 24/7 shifts in order to maximize the production’s output. Based on the approval by the EMA, first drug product batches of the vaccine can now be delivered to partner sites for sterile fill and finish, before distribution to the European Union and countries worldwide. The first batches of vaccines manufactured at the Marburg site are expected to be delivered in the second half of April.
In total, 50,000 steps are required from manufacturing the mRNA to the bulk drug substance which then can be handed over for fill and finish. Materials and components for production arrive from a global supply chain that has been dramatically expanded in the last 12 months.
BioNTech’s manufacturing facility in Marburg is a GMP-certified manufacturing facility. Good manufacturing practice (GMP) is a system of regulatory standards for ensuring that products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards aiming for a high level of drug quality and patient safety. The GMP regulations have been developed over decades to minimize the risks involved in any pharmaceutical production, including the vaccine production that cannot be eliminated through testing the final product. The production of vaccines under GMP standards are a prerequisite for the validation of the manufacturing processes by the EMA.
Together with our partner Pfizer, we are working continuously on multiple initiatives to respond to global demand. A key factor in the expansion of our manufacturing network has been the set-up of this new manufacturing site in Marburg, Germany. BioNTech plans to be able to produce up to 250 million doses of BNT162b2 in the first half of 2021.
The vaccine, which is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology, was developed by both BioNTech and Pfizer. BioNTech is the Marketing Authorization Holder in the European Union, and the holder of emergency use authorizations or equivalent in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and other countries in advance of a planned application for full marketing authorizations in these countries.