Smart innovations for strong returns: BioNTech, BioNxt Solutions, and Siemens Healthineers

BioNTech aims to become an "immunotherapy powerhouse"

In 2020, Mainz-based company BioNTech scored a major coup with its COVID-19 vaccine based on mRNA technology. The Company is still earning revenue from the vaccine today. However, sales are dwindling: In 2024, revenue fell from EUR 3.82 billion in the previous year to EUR 2.75 billion – at the same time, the Company posted an annual loss of EUR 665 million, following strong profits in prior years. Revenue also weakened in the first quarter of the current year, remaining slightly below the same period last year, reaching only EUR 182.8 million. Notably, 97% of quarterly revenue continued to come from the COVID-19 alliance with Pfizer. These figures demonstrate that innovation can pay off – the Mainz-based company continues to benefit from its vaccine success. At the same time, however, BioNTech is actively pursuing tomorrow's solutions.

BioNTech is doing everything it can to become an "immunotherapy powerhouse," as CEO Uğur Şahin puts it. To this end, the Company is investing in research: in the first quarter of 2025 alone, research and development expenses totaled EUR 526 million (previous year: EUR 507 million) – significantly more than quarterly revenue. The focus is on two "pan-tumor" programs and mRNA cancer vaccines. By 2030, BioNTech aims to establish a diversified multi-product oncology platform and thus establish further cash cows following the success of its COVID-19 vaccine.

BioNxt: Innovative dosage forms for MS and other conditions

The Canadian company BioNxt is taking a completely different approach. Instead of experimental drugs, the Company is focusing on innovative forms of administering existing drugs. These include sublingual administration in the form of drugs via the oral mucosa or the application of drug patches to the skin. The Company has several milestones coming up in 2025: BioNxt plans to start bioequivalence studies for its active ingredient BNT23001, a sublingual cladribine therapy for multiple sclerosis, and to develop a sublingual therapy for myasthenia gravis, a neurological autoimmune disease characterized by muscle weakness. Market researchers at Clinical Trials Arena estimate that the global market for myasthenia gravis therapies will be worth up to USD 6.7 billion by 2032.

Although BioNxt is less heavily involved in experimental research than BioNTech, for example, due to its focus on innovative dosage forms, both companies are participating in the trend toward more personalized and precise medicine. However, while personalized cancer vaccines are highly complex and require high research expenditure, new forms of application that often make it easier for patients to adhere to a treatment regimen are comparatively inexpensive. BioNxt Solutions is nevertheless seeking patent protection for its products, which helps secure future revenue streams. To ensure that its solutions benefit patients, the Company plans to establish contact with potential partners before the end of this year. The advantage here is that established active ingredients are already familiar to doctors and patients and are in constant demand. However, innovative dosage forms can offer benefits - potentially prompting doctors to switch from existing therapies.

Siemens Healthineers: Profits are booming for the market leader

The success of Siemens Healthineers shows that becoming the market leader in your niche pays off. The medical technology specialist operates in the fields of imaging diagnostics, laboratory diagnostics, minimally invasive therapies, and hospital services. The integration of diagnostics and therapy is a particular growth area for Siemens Healthineers. The Company aims to cover the entire patient pathway – from early detection (diagnosis) to therapy and monitoring. For example, the acquisition of Varian enables integrated cancer treatment, with imaging, planning, and radiation therapy all coming from a single source. Overall, the Company is growing strongly and generating high earnings: In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, revenue rose to EUR 5.48 billion, an increase of. 5.7% compared with the same period last year. The imaging (+7.6%) and oncology/Varian (+6.2%) divisions contributed particularly to this growth. Overall, Siemens Healthineers generated a net profit of EUR 478 million in the first quarter of its fiscal year**, up 11% on the same quarter of the previous year.

Optimism at BioNXt – Skepticism at BioNTech

On the stock market, Siemens Healthineers has long been considered the market leader and therefore has high expectations. The stock failed to meet these expectations and lost 6% over a six-month period. The outlook for BioNTech is even worse: investors see dwindling COVID-19 sales, while future blockbusters still seem a long way off. Some investors are also critical of the high research expenditure, sending the share price down by 23% in the last six months. In contrast, BioNxt shares have risen by a whopping 104%. The market is rewarding the upcoming studies on multiple sclerosis and an announcement by the European Patent Office of its intention to grant a patent for the sublingual administration of active ingredients. Given its low market capitalization of less than EUR 40 million, BioNxt's stock must be considered speculative, but the outlook is very promising. The specialist in alternative dosage forms seems to have found its niche and can now start looking for additional partners.