BioNTech has named the head of Swedish pharmaceutical company Sobi to be its next CEO, marking the latest step of a transformation that will see the prominent messenger RNA drugmaker become more of an oncology specialist.
Guido Oelkers, who has run the rare disease-focused Sobi since 2017, will take over for co-founder and former CEO Ugur Sahin by Feb. 1, 2027. Sahin, meanwhile, will leave BioNTech to run a new and unnamed mRNA startup.
BioNTech is still searching for a successor to Chief Medical Officer Özlem Türeci, another co-founder who will join Sahin at the fledgling company. BioNTech is looking for a leader with "exceptional medical and scientific expertise” as well as experience in late-stage clinical development, it said in a statement. BioNTech first announced the coming leadership transition in March.
BioNTech was formed in 2008 and originally focused on cancer. But the company became a household name during the pandemic, when it teamed with Pfizer to develop Comirnaty, the first marketed shot for COVID-19.
Comirnaty went onto become one of the most lucrative products in the history of the pharmaceutical industry, and the mRNA technology behind it won a Nobel Prize. BioNTech was suddenly worth billions, too.
Yet that success was short-lived. Comirnaty sales plummeted in the pandemic’s aftermath, and mRNA technology became a political target, particularly once Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over the Department of Health and Human Services. Vaccines built on mRNA technology have since been under intense scrutiny.
BioNTech adapted by putting more and more resources into oncology, using a combination of internal research and dealmaking to build a pipeline of vaccines, bispecific antibodies and cellular medicines.
A key part of that effort was an acquisition and subsequent partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb centered around a “PD-1/VEGF” inhibitor in advanced testing. That drug is being tested against a variety of tumors, among them non-small cell lung cancer. Overall, the company has said it expects to have 15 Phase 3 trials in cancer underway by the end of 2026, as well as “multiple” late-stage data readouts across major cancer types.
Oelkers will now take on that challenge. In a statement, BioNTech referred to Oelkers as a “seasoned CEO and strategic leader” with more than three decades of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. BioNTech specifically pointed to Oelkers’ ability to build product portfolios across “multiple areas,” including oncology and immunology.
Oelkers “has consistently demonstrated sound strategic leadership in global organizations, seamlessly transforming scientific excellence into commercial success,” said BioNTech chairperson Helmut Jeggle, in a statement. Hie expertise will help position BioNTech “to deliver on its key objectives to become a multi-product company, and continue [its] remarkable success story.”
Company shares climbed about 4%, to around $94 apiece, in early trading Monday.
