Science & technology | Drug manufacturing

BioNTech plans to make vaccines in shipping containers

These standardised factories could be quickly scaled up to expand capacity worldwide

AT THE HEART of its site in Marburg, Germany, BioNTech is putting the finishing touches on a new kind of factory. The drug company has spent eight months reworking its manufacturing processes to produce its mRNA covid-19 vaccine inside a set of standard shipping containers. By creating a modular approach to drug manufacturing, Ugur Sahin, BioNTech’s boss, says he aims to transform medicine production around the world.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Cloning vaccine factories”

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