BioNTech swings to profit and raises 2026 revenue outlook on cancer-drug payout

BioNTech SE returned to quarterly profitability in the three months through September, lifted by a licensing payment tied to its cancer-drug partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb even as revenue from its Covid-19 vaccine continued to decline. The Mainz, Germany-based company, which developed the first widely authorized mRNA Covid-19 vaccine alongside Pfizer, disclosed the results in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

Net profit for the third quarter was €184.5 million, compared with a net loss of €28.7 million in the same period last year, according to the unaudited financial statements BioNTech filed with regulators. Diluted earnings per share were €0.73, reversing a loss of €0.12 per share a year earlier. For the first nine months of 2026, the company still posted a net loss of €1,168.2 million, wider than the €831.1 million loss over the same stretch of 2025, reflecting continued heavy investment in its oncology pipeline and a series of impairment charges tied to a broader restructuring.

Total revenue for the quarter fell to €1,289.2 million from €1,518.9 million a year earlier, as sales of BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, marketed in partnership with Pfizer, continued to soften on weaker global demand. Revenue from the vaccine dropped to €554.3 million from €853.3 million. That decline was cushioned by €683.0 million in out-licensing revenue, up from €613.0 million a year earlier, most of it tied to the company's bispecific antibody pumitamig, which BioNTech out-licensed to Bristol Myers Squibb in 2023. The payment was recognized after an option held by Bristol Myers Squibb to cancel the collaboration lapsed during the quarter, and it included a separate $70 million development milestone.

Guidance raised at the upper end

BioNTech said it is narrowing its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to €1.7 billion to €1.9 billion, up from the €1.6 billion to €1.9 billion range it set in August, when softer Covid-19 vaccine demand and delayed partnership milestones had forced the company to cut its outlook from an earlier €2.0 billion to €2.3 billion target. Guidance for adjusted research and development spending, at €2.0 billion to €2.3 billion, and adjusted selling, general and administrative expenses, at €700 million to €800 million, was left unchanged.

"Our performance in the third quarter allowed us to narrow our full-year 2026 revenue guidance to the upper end of the previous guidance range," said Ramón Zapata, BioNTech's chief financial officer, in the earnings statement.

Our performance in the third quarter allowed us to narrow our full-year 2026 revenue guidance to the upper end of the previous guidance range.

Research and development expenses climbed 32 percent year over year to €748.1 million, which the company attributed largely to its expanding slate of oncology programs, including antibody-drug conjugates and immuno-oncology combination therapies. BioNTech ended the quarter with €16,163.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and security investments, down from €17,235.6 million at the start of the year, a decline the company linked to continued R&D spending, restructuring costs and share buybacks. Under a $1 billion repurchase program authorized in May and running through May 2027, BioNTech bought back just over five million American depositary shares for €403.5 million during the first nine months of the year.

Oncology pipeline takes center stage

Chief executive and co-founder Ugur Sahin cast the quarter as evidence that the company's yearslong pivot from its pandemic-era vaccine business toward cancer treatments is advancing. BioNTech highlighted what it described as the first global data for any PD-(L)1xVEGF bispecific candidate used in combination with an investigational antibody-drug conjugate, pairing pumitamig with elfetabart drozuntecan in lung cancer, and said it has initiated what it called the first global Phase 3 trial combining pumitamig with Gilead Sciences' sacituzumab govitecan in a subset of triple-negative breast cancer.

The company also pointed to results from gotistobart, a CTLA-4-targeting antibody developed with OncoC4, saying an interim analysis of the Phase 3 PRESERVE-003 trial showed a near doubling of median overall survival compared with chemotherapy in previously treated squamous non-small-cell lung cancer. Not every readout was favorable: a Phase 2/3 trial of BNT113, an mRNA immunotherapy for HPV16-positive head and neck cancer, failed to reach statistical significance on progression-free survival, though the trial continues to track overall survival as a second primary endpoint. A separate antibody-drug conjugate partnered with DualityBio met its progression-free survival goal in a breast cancer trial but showed only a modest benefit alongside a higher rate of interstitial lung disease, leaving BioNTech and its partner weighing next steps.

• Third-quarter revenue: €1,289.2 million, down from €1,518.9 million a year earlier
• Third-quarter net profit: €184.5 million, versus a net loss of €28.7 million a year earlier
• Full-year 2026 revenue guidance raised to €1.7 billion–€1.9 billion
• Cash and security investments: €16.2 billion as of September 30, 2026

Restructuring and a shifting partnership

The quarter's results also reflect a manufacturing overhaul BioNTech has been carrying out this year, consolidating its production footprint and closing several sites in Germany; restructuring provisions stood at €142.5 million at quarter-end. Separately, BioNTech said it exercised an option under its oncology collaboration with Roche's Genentech unit that will shift most future research and development costs for a jointly developed cancer program to Genentech starting January 1, 2027, in exchange for BioNTech becoming eligible for royalties rather than sharing costs and profits evenly.

Sahin said the quarter's progress, including the advancement of pumitamig into additional late-stage trials, left the company "well positioned for its next phase of growth" as it works to diversify revenue away from its legacy Covid-19 vaccine business, which still faces a seasonal demand cycle. The company's variant-adapted vaccine for the 2026-2027 season, cleared by the European Medicines Agency in July and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August, remains its only commercial product generating meaningful revenue while the oncology pipeline advances toward potential approvals.

BioNTech held a conference call and webcast on Tuesday at 8 a.m. Eastern time to discuss the results with investors and analysts.