Biontech’s Corona vaccine saves millions of lives. But for the company founders U?ur ?ahin and Özlem Türeci, this success is only the first stage of a larger goal: “One often underestimates what is possible in 30 years,” they say in the “Stern” interview.
U?ur ?ahin and Özlem Türeci have become world famous and rich with their Corona vaccine, but they don’t think about stopping: The founders of the vaccine manufacturer Biontech want to use their billions in profits from the pandemic to promote the development of novel treatments against cancer and even aging. “Our purpose in life is to be useful,” Türeci said in an interview with “Stern”. “If we look at what we want to contribute to, not much has been achieved.”
Husband and co-founder U?ur ?ahin arrives at the company headquarters in Mainz with a bicycle helmet in his hand. The couple appear modest. Her everyday life has changed very little since the mRNA breakthrough, “apart from the fact that we are recognized in the supermarket and greeted nicely,” says Türeci. To this day, the couple does not own a car or a television. ?ahin watches his beloved superhero films on his laptop, “sometimes even on his smartphone”.
The proceeds from the vaccine flow largely into the expansion of Biontech. The company is growing rapidly. Several new laboratory or production buildings are under construction or in planning, and the number of employees has doubled to more than 3,000 within two years. “For us, work is still the focus, it dictates every day,” says Türeci.
For the doctor couple, the success of the vaccine against the corona virus was no more than a stage victory. Because they founded Biontech in 2008 with the aim of developing new therapies against cancer. On the one hand, it is about detecting and treating cancer earlier, Türeci explains. On the other hand, they aimed to “make advanced cancer a chronic disease that you can live with”.
Türeci and ?ahin rely, among other things, on mRNA technology, which was also used for the corona vaccine. For their cancer drugs, they adapt the mRNA individually to the tumor of the cancer patient. The aim is to get their bodies to produce targeted antibodies and fight cancer.
The two doctors are convinced: in 15 years, more than 30 percent of all newly approved drugs will be based on mRNA technology – including anti-cancer drugs. Several of them are already in patient studies. At the same time, the oncologist Türeci puts the brakes on exaggerated expectations: “The idea that you have a pill and it immediately cures all types of cancer will not come to pass.”
A little further in the future are drugs that can delay or even stop aging. Research is being carried out in many laboratories around the world, including in financially strong California. Biontech has also entered this field with a subsidiary called Resano. First of all, it is about the more down-to-earth goal of counteracting acute clinical pictures that can lead to a loss of function in an organ. For example, people who have had a heart attack are often no longer able to perform as well as before, explains ?ahin. “We are investigating whether we can bring the heart back closer to its pre-infarction state, for example by reducing the formation of scar tissue.”
However, he has long been thinking one step ahead: the molecule mRNA can also be used to rejuvenate cells. In principle, a skin cell can be converted into a heart muscle cell, replacing old tissue. Ugur ?ahin does not dare to speculate when this technology could be used in humans. “In medicine, it’s easy to predict what will happen in the next ten years,” he says. “But one often underestimates what is possible in the next 30 years.”
