One year after partnering with clinical-stage Biotheus on a bispecific antibody targeting PD-L1 and VEGF-A, BioNTech announced the acquisition of the Zhuhai, China–based company for $800 million, with up to $150 million in potential milestone payments. The purchase gives BioNTech full global rights to Biotheus’s lead candidate PM8002, also known as BNT327; a pipeline of ten programs in various stages of clinical development; and a state-of-the-art biologics manufacturing facility. In phase 2 trials in China, BNT327 demonstrated a positive safety profile and encouraging antitumor activity by enriching anti-VEGF activity into the tumor microenvironment.

“The acquisition of Biotheus builds on our successful ongoing collaboration on BNT327/PM8002 and other investigational bispecific antibodies,” said Uğur Şahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, in a company press release. “We believe that BNT327/PM8002 has the potential to set a new standard of care in multiple oncology indications, surpassing traditional checkpoint inhibitors.” Those checkpoint inhibitors include Keytruda (pembrolizumab), which alone earns Merck $25 billion per year, while Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo (nivolumab) and Roche’s Tecentriq (atezolizumab) generated in 2023 $9 billion and $4 billion, respectively.