BioNTech has billions in cash, and its oncology programs are moving into late-stage clinical trials.
BioNTech has billions in cash, and its oncology programs are moving into late-stage clinical trials.
Moderna isn't the only mRNA biotech stock that could deliver big gains for investors. BioNTech (BNTX -2.76%) has billions in cash on its books and a cancer treatment pipeline that could transform it from a COVID-19 vaccine maker into a major force in oncology.
With several promising therapies advancing through clinical trials, this biotech could already have the ingredients to fuel its next chapter of growth.
The potential starts with its balance sheet.
BioNTech has plenty of cash to develop its candidates
As of the end of the second quarter, the German biotech business had 16.6 billion euros in cash, cash equivalents, and securities on its balance sheet. That gives BioNTech significant financial flexibility to fund research, advance clinical trials, enter into partnerships, and develop new medicines for the market.
It also announced a share repurchase program of up to $1 billion. That's an encouraging sign that the company has strong operating cash flows that will allow it to fund that buyback while continuing to invest in its core business.
The bigger question, however, is what the company plans to do with the rest of the money.
Right now, its only commercialized product is Comirnaty, the COVID-19 vaccine that it developed and marketed in partnership with Pfizer. But BioNTech is working toward becoming a multiproduct company focused on oncology by 2030.
That shift could give investors exposure to a much broader business if its research pays off. Plus, unlike a cash-strapped biotech that must keep raising money to fund R&D, BioNTech can finance its development programs with resources already sitting on its balance sheet.
Averytin News Financial update.