AGC Biologics, a global biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has partnered with BioNTech SE to supply Plasmid DNA (pDNA) starting material for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, at AGC’s Heidelberg, Germany facility.

“We are honored that BioNTech has entrusted us to become part of their global supply network in an effort to make the vaccine available to as many people as possible around the world,” said Mark Womack, chief business officer, AGC Biologics. “We are very proud of our efforts to provide our global customers with the essential materials needed to rapidly deliver vaccines in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.”

AGC Biologics will manufacture and supply BioNTech with pDNA starting material, an essential component of BioNTech’s mRNA-based vaccine manufacturing process.

“The team at Heidelberg is enthusiastically embracing this important project with BioNTech,” said Dieter Kramer, General Manager, Heidelberg, AGC Biologics. “Every team member has a deep sense of pride in our COVID-19 teams and we look forward to supporting BioNTech in the production of their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine with Plasmid DNA.”

AGC Biologics’ Heidelberg facility has over 20 years of experience delivering a very wide range of microbial programs for our customers. In addition, the site is AGC’s Center of Excellence for Plasmid DNA (pDNA) production, as part of their end-to-end cell and gene therapy offering.