Germany’s BioNTech SE has raised its 2025 revenue outlook after receiving the first tranche of payments from its new multi-billion-dollar partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb, a move that marks a major step in its strategic pivot from COVID-19 vaccines to oncology.
The Mainz-based biotechnology company, which rose to global prominence for co-developing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, said it now expects total revenue of between €2.6 billion and €2.8 billion ($3.03 billion) for 2025, up from an earlier projection of €1.7 billion to €2.2 billion. The upgrade comes as BioNTech begins to realize early financial benefits from its alliance with Bristol Myers Squibb, announced earlier this year.
Under the deal, Bristol Myers agreed to pay as much as $11.1 billion to BioNTech in a series of upfront, milestone, and potential future payments tied to the development and commercialization of cancer immunotherapies. The first payments have already been received, reflecting progress on the partnership’s flagship candidate, pumitamig, a next-generation T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy designed to target specific cancer mutations.
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BioNTech confirmed on Monday that the partners have expanded their clinical trial program for pumitamig and are planning to launch additional studies next year. The company said it aims to evaluate the therapy’s potential across a broader range of solid tumors, indicating its ambition to challenge Merck’s best-selling immunotherapy, Keytruda, which dominates the market with annual sales exceeding $25 billion.
The company’s third-quarter financials also reflected the early momentum of this transition. BioNTech reported a 22% year-on-year increase in third-quarter revenue to €1.52 billion, buoyed by milestone receipts and early licensing revenue from its oncology collaborations. While its COVID-19 vaccine sales continue to decline as global demand fades, the firm is steadily building a new growth engine centered on cancer treatments and next-generation mRNA-based therapies.
Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin said in a June that the partnership with Bristol Myers is central to BioNTech’s long-term strategy of leveraging its mRNA and immune-oncology expertise to develop treatments that can teach the immune system to recognize and attack cancer. Sahin added that the alliance expands the firm’s capacity to bring transformative therapies to patients faster and strengthens our position as a global leader in cancer immunotherapy.
Analysts have described the collaboration as a pivotal inflection point for BioNTech, with some noting that the company is now entering the second phase of its evolution — from a pandemic-driven vaccine company to a diversified oncology powerhouse. The partnership with Bristol Myers is expected to give BionTech access to a broader clinical infrastructure and commercialization network that could significantly accelerate the rollout of its cancer drugs once approved.
Others see BioNTech’s pivot as a reflection of a broader shift among pandemic-era biotech leaders. With vaccine revenues falling sharply from their 2021 peaks, companies such as BioNTech and Moderna are reinvesting in oncology, rare diseases, and personalized medicine as they seek to sustain long-term growth.
BioNTech’s post-pandemic repositioning has been supported by its deep cash reserves, estimated at more than €17 billion at the end of 2024, giving it the financial strength to expand its research and clinical portfolio. In addition to pumitamig, BioNTech is advancing several other cancer immunotherapy candidates, including personalized neoantigen vaccines and cell therapies aimed at solid tumors.
The company’s growing partnership network now includes collaborations with major pharmaceutical players such as Regeneron, Genentech, and now Bristol Myers. Each alliance is designed to accelerate drug discovery and streamline regulatory approval timelines across multiple oncology indications.
While BioNTech’s transformation is still underway, early signs suggest the company is successfully repositioning itself as one of the leading forces in cancer immunotherapy.
With clinical expansions planned for 2025 and new partnerships emerging, BioNTech’s bet on oncology could define its trajectory for the next decade. This means potentially setting up one of the most consequential rivalries in modern pharmaceuticals, as it goes head-to-head with Merck’s Keytruda in the immunotherapy market valued at more than $100 billion globally.