Recently, BionTech chose to go a step further after completing the BD transaction of Promis bispecific antibody: it completely acquired Promis, a Chinese multi-antibody biotech. The day after the announcement of the acquisition, BioNTech held the 2024 R&D Day in full swing. Most of the report was devoted to describing the cancer treatment strategy centered on the bispecific antibody PM8002 developed by Promis, and clarified that the acquisition of PM8002 is a highlight in the company's future strategic blueprint.

From 2023, we can see that BioNTech is frequently sweeping up domestic pipelines. A total of four ADC pipelines from two high-quality biotechs, Yilian and Yingen, as well as PM8002 from Promis, were all acquired by BioNTech.

From the timeline, BioNTech first conducted BD transactions for several ADC pipelines in 2023, and then completed the BD of Promis bispecific antibody at the end of 2023. From today's perspective, BioNTech regards PM8002 as the backbone of future tumor combination therapy, while ADC is an extension of chemotherapy. This also matches the breadth of indications of cancer blockbusters in this era: Drug K has 40 indications approved by the FDA, and immunotherapy represented by PD-(L)1 monoclonal antibody is the cornerstone of current cancer therapy.

The breadth of indications that PD-1 monoclonal antibody can expand is wider than ADC. Looking at the current strategy from the experience of the last era, using PM8002 of BioNTech as the backbone and combining it with its own multiple ADCs for most cancers in the future is likely to be BioNTech's ambition in the next era.

If foreign MNCs covet domestic biotech pipelines, they are generally in the form of BD, and there are few acquisition cases. Previously, AstraZeneca and Gracell Biotech were more typical. Now there is another more typical case. One of the problems of BioNTech is that the platform was relatively single before, so the pipeline was naturally a little thin. The acquisition of Promis is equivalent to owning Promis's multi-antibody research and development platform, which is very beneficial for the future development of other directions, even if it is not first in class, only fast follow bispecific antibodies, at least in bispecific antibodies, there is a research and development foundation for fast follow-up of the tide of innovative drugs.

In addition, according to BioNTech's own R&D day, another reason for its acquisition was Promis's production capacity: Promis has a 2000L production plant, which is fully capable of supporting BioNTech's global clinical development and early advancement capabilities, and the IND documents also meet global regulatory standards, both in China and the United States.

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