BioNTech Chief Executive Uğur Şahin said Saturday that the company is in talks with the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) to establish a branch in Turkey in 2021, “QİA.AZ” reports citing Daily Sabah.
“We are bringing our products to Turkey for the first time. We are in talks with TÜBİTAK and also have started to work with professors in some universities. We want to open a branch of BioNTech in Turkey,” Şahin said.
Şahin noted that apart from COVID-19 vaccines, BioNTech wants 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. Apart from these vaccines, we want to carry out cancer research in Turkey. There could be two to three projects in the first year, but we can increase their number if we will be successful,” he said.
The BioNTech CEO added that Turkey is their motherland and therefore it is a great pleasure for them to help Turkish people via vaccines.
Turkey has signed a deal with BioNTech, the German firm behind the mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine, for up to 30 million doses of the jab, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet late Friday.
The current stock stands at 550,000 doses, and Turkey will get 4.5 million doses by the end of March, Koca added.
“According to our deal, up to 30 million doses will be provided under the same conditions,” he said.
BioNTech’s vaccine, developed together with U.S. 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 the People of the Year by British daily, the Financial Times.