BioNTech Chief Executive Uğur Şahin said on Saturday that the company is in talks with the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) to establish a branch in Turkey in 2021.
“We are bringing our products to Turkey for the first time. We are in talks with TÜBİTAK and we have also started working with professors from some universities. We want to open a BioNTech branch in Turkey, ”said Şahin in an exclusive interview with Agência Anadolu (AA).
Şahin noted that, in addition to the COVID-19 vaccines, BioNTech wishes to collaborate with Turkey in different fields and carry out research and development (R&D) activities.
“We want to collaborate with Turkish universities and companies. In addition to these vaccines, we want to conduct cancer research in Turkey. There may be two to three projects in the first year, but we can increase the number if we are successful, ”he said.
BioNTech’s CEO added that Turkey is their motherland and therefore it is a great pleasure for them to help the Turkish people with vaccines.
Turkey signed an agreement with BioNTech, the German company behind the mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine, for up to 30 million doses of the vaccine, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet on Friday.
The current stock is 550,000 doses, and Turkey will receive 4.5 million doses by the end of March, added Koca.
“According to our agreement, up to 30 million doses will be delivered under the same conditions,” he said.
The BioNTech vaccine, developed in conjunction with the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, is authorized for use in more than 45 countries, including Britain and the United States, as well as in the European Union.
The vaccine brought Şahin and his wife Özlem Türeci worldwide fame, and they were named People of the Year by the British newspaper Financial Times.