CEOInterviews.AI
Start App
Try: AI strategy tariffs earnings guidance layoffs interest rates growth

Ugur Sahin

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Biontech Se

Search every verified Ugur Sahin interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, has discussed the company's development of mRNA-based vaccines and therapies across multiple public appearances. In interviews and talks from 2020 to 2023, he described BioNTech's work on the COVID-19 vaccine, including the rapid design of vaccine candidates after the viral sequence became available in January 2020 and the company's "Project Lightspeed" initiative to develop a vaccine in under a year. He stated that the vaccine was developed using mRNA technology originally researched for cancer immunotherapy, and he noted that the company produced and delivered over 1.8 billion doses to approximately 150 countries and regions. Sahin also addressed vaccine efficacy against emerging variants, saying that laboratory tests showed the vaccine neutralized more than 30 variants and that a new variant-specific vaccine could be produced in about six weeks if needed. Sahin has also spoken about BioNTech's broader research goals, particularly personalized cancer immunotherapy. He described the company's approach to developing individualized mRNA vaccines based on a patient's tumor mutations, stating that early clinical data from 13 patients showed a statistically significant reduction in metastatic relapses. He expressed confidence that such treatments could become more affordable and faster to produce over time, estimating that production time could drop from three months to a few days within a decade. In discussions about pandemic preparedness, Sahin said the world was not well prepared for COVID-19 and emphasized the need for manufacturing capacity and further technology development to address potential future pandemics. He also mentioned that booster vaccinations might be needed every 12 months to maintain antibody levels.

Recent appearances

  • Founder Stories: Uğur Şahin & Özlem Türeci, Building BioNTech into an Iconic Biotech Company

    June 27, 2023 · 📺 Axial

    With their work, Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci solved the basic mRNA-associated problem, namely the issue of low and short-lived protein production. In parallel, BioNTech colleague Katalin Karikó approached the emerging technology from another angle and found that the immunogenicity of mRNA could be mitigated effectively by modifying the nucleotide uridine. Discovery by discovery, improvement by improvement, the company’s scientific teams harnessed the power of mRNA while exploring new and exciting ways to deploy it. To date, the scientists behind BioNTech have optimized the structural compone…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Archive: What Biontech founder Ugur Sahin used to do...

    January 03, 2022 · 📺 Ritter der Meinungsfreiheit

    #corona #covid19 #cancer #disease #vaccination #documentary #ganymet #pfizer #omikron #globalization #climate #merkel #federalgovernment #socialism #greatreset #newworld #klausschwab #billgates #who #climatechange #afd #thunberg #younggloballeaders #humor #greens #cdu #querdenken #lauterbach #drosten #rki #wieler A short promotional documentary for the company BioNTech, which, at least as recently as 2012 (the year of the documentary), was researching several mRNA vaccines against cancer. Apparently without success, as they only recently licensed their FIRST product to the market, thanks to a…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Inventors of the Year Award Presentation and Fireside Chat (IPOEFAwards2021)

    December 10, 2021 · 📺 IPO Education Foundation (IPOEF)

    Inventors of the Year: Katalin Kariko (BioNTech), Ugur Sahin (BioNTech), Ozlem Tureci (BioNTech), and Drew Weissman (University of Pennsylvania) for the development of mRNA technology used in COVID vaccines.

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • IPM Fireside Chat with BioNTech Founders Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin

    November 29, 2021 · 📺 Institute for Precision Medicine

    The human response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been an incredible feat in the history of humankind. The global economy has been strained in ways completely inconceivable before the pandemic, and nations around the world have worked together in ways never done before. The American workplace might never look the same, and an entire generation of children will remember virtual schooling changing everything. Public policy makers have been pushed at every level, and the healthcare system has strained under the immense burden of serving the rest of society. Indeed, science itself has raced to kee…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • A conversation with BioNTech Co-Founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci

    November 08, 2021 · 📺 AtlanticCouncil

    BioNTech Co-Founders, Professor Ugur Sahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci discuss the state of the pandemic and vaccine development, as well as their personal stories. For further information, please visit: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe for more! https://www.youtube.com/user/Atlantic... Driven by our mission of “shaping the global future together,” the Atlantic Council is a nonpartisan organization that galvanizes US leadership and engagement in the world, in partnership with allies and…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Biontech Founder Ugur Sahin Warns about MUTATIONS, FADING AWAY OF IMMUNE REACTIONS, NEW VIRUS FORMS

    October 13, 2021 · 📺 Quotensklave

    Biontech Founder Ugur Sahin Warns about MUTATIONS, FADING AWAY OF IMMUNE REACTIONS AND NEW VIRUS FORMS. And this after MILLIONS OF VACCINATIONS.

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • How Ugur Sahin developed the Biontech vaccine in a single day

    September 11, 2021 · 📺 JakalX

    Pfizer and BioNTech today asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve their Covid-19 vaccine. We speak with the visionary scientist who developed the vaccine, Dr. Ugur Sahin, and Bojan Pancevski from the WSJ about what could be the fastest vaccine ever developed and approved. 31.12.2020 https://www.businessinsider.de/wissen...

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • GT’s exclusive interview with Ugur Sahin, German-based vaccine developer BioNTech’s CEO

    May 06, 2021 · 📺 环球时报 Global Times

    China's potential approval of BioNTech's mRNA COVID-19 vaccine has entered the final stage in decision-making processes. Sahin delivers his optimism about the potential official approval of its vaccine soon based on conversations with Chinese authorities.

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Saving the World from COVID-19: The View from the Co-Founders of BioNTech

    April 16, 2021 · 📺 stars - for Leaders of the Next Generation

    The Co-Founders of BioNTech, Prof. Dr. Ugur SAHIN and Dr. Özlem TÜRECI, developed the world’s first vaccine against COVID-19 within less than a year and with 95 percent efficacy - a world record from every perspective! In this stars webinar, they talked about their visions of leadership and innovation, the potential of mRNA technology and how to be better prepared for the next pandemic. Here are 12 insights from the discussion: 💡On the essence of leadership: “The most important aspect of leadership is to create new leaders” 💡On their collaborative leadership style: “Don’t rely on individual…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Frankly Speaking | S1 E9 | Dr. Ugur Sahin Founder and CEO of BioNTech

    March 07, 2021 · 📺 Arab News

    Founder and CEO of BioNTech who invented the first vaccine against the COVID-19 virus, talks to Frank Kane about his lifelong quest to combat disease - and finding a cure for cancer For more videos, visit Arab News: https://bit.ly/2revxC2 Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/2SysNMn Follow us on Twitter:   / arabnews   Like us on Facebook:   / thearabnews   Follow us on Instagram:   / arabnews   Check our website: http://www.arabnews.com/

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • SITC President Patrick Hwu, MD, Fireside Chat w/ BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, MD, on SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

    February 23, 2021 · 📺 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer

    In this edition of the SITC Fireside Chat, SITC President Patrick Hwu, MD, sits down with BioNTech CEO (and creator of the Pfizer/BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine) Ugur Sahin, MD. Dr. Hwu discusses a range of topics, including the process to develop the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in just 11 months, the role cancer immunotherapy and cancer vaccine research played in developing the vaccine and much more. The following are topics discussed during the ~45 minute conversation, which was recorded in February 2021. • 00:40 – Dr. Sahin’s background in cancer research • 1:40 – Why Dr. Sahin was drawn to immunol…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin: "Our vaccine will likely work for mutated coronavirus variants" | DW News

    December 22, 2020 · 📺 DW News

    “Even though this new variant has multiple mutations, only one percent of this protein is changed. And that means 99 percent are still the same,” Biontech CEO Ugur Sahin told DW. He said his company needed two weeks to determine whether the vaccine can inactivate it. “Scientifically the likelihood is high” that the vaccine developed by Biontech and Pfizer will work against the new variant, Sahin said, adding that “I am confident that if there is a need for a change, that the technology that we are using, the messenger RNA technology, could deliver the change.” In case the current vaccine did n…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →