BioNTech begins Covid-19 vaccine production in German plant

Frankfurt, Feb 10 (efe-epa).- German biotech firm BioNTech has started manufacturing its Covid-19 vaccine at its new plant in Marburg, central Germany, which it bought from Swiss company Novartis last year.

BioNTech said in a statement Wednesday that the vaccine manufacturing process started with the production of mRNA, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

The German company expects to produce 250 million doses of its BNT162b2 vaccine in Marburg during the first half of the year and hopes to distribute the first batches in early April.

BioNTech bought its production laboratories in Marburg from the Swiss company Novartis to increase the production capacity of its BNT162 vaccine to 750 million annual doses.

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and BioNTech have increased their vaccine production capacity up to 2 billion doses in 2021 to respond to demand around the world. EFE-EPA

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