March 30 Quick Takes: BioNTech anticipates €9.8B year; plus Immune-Onc, Amgen-Rodeo, Stuart, Bond

BioNTech making plans around €9.8B year for vaccine sales
With estimated 2021 revenue of €9.8 billion ($11.5 billion) from sales of COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2, BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) expects to accelerate development of programs in its oncology and infectious disease pipeline in preparation for multiple launches in the next five years. In the near term, the company said it will emphasize continued manufacturing and delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine, development of boosters and variant-specific as needed for the next stages of the pandemic, and continued investment in its oncology pipeline. On a conference call Tuesday, Chief Strategy Officer Ryan Richardson said the biotech is advancing nine preclinical programs for infectious diseases, and has identified autoimmune disease, inflammatory disease and regenerative medicine as emerging areas of interest. Sales of the COVID-19 vaccine were €270.5 million in 2020.

Oceanpine leads $73M series B for Immune-Onc
Immune-Onc Therapeutics Inc. raised $73 million in series B1 and B2 funding. Oceanpine Capital led the financing for the Palo Alto, Calif.-based immunotherapy company; also investing were fellow new investors Octagon Capital and Sphera Healthcare and existing investors including Northern Light Venture Capital and Vivo Capital. The company received a strategic capital investment from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Therapy Acceleration Program. Launched in 2016 by serial entrepreneur Guo-Liang Yu and President and CEO Charlene Liao, Immune-Onc is part of a growing class of immuno-oncology companies converting myeloid cells from immune-suppressing into tumor-suppressing agents...