Benzinga | Apr 21, 2021 11:15AM EDT

BioNTech CFO Sees Scope For Additional Production Sites To Meet Demand For COVID-19 Shots: Reuters

* Pfizer Inc's (NYSE: PFE) COVID-19 vaccine partner BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) is not ruling out further capacity expansion and new production facilities to meet the demand for the vaccine, reports Reuters.

* BNTX CFO Sierk Poetting said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper, "there is still room for improvement. But that will ultimately also depend on demand".

* He said that if premises were available, BioNtech could build up additional production capacity in six months, adding that discussions were ongoing.

* BioNTech and Pfizer plan to produce 2.5 billion COVID-19 doses this year, of which 1.4 billion were already sold. The companies aim to raise production to 3 billion shots in 2022.

* A total of 300 million doses have been promised to the US.

* BioNTech in February had launched production at its new site in the city of Marburg, which it purchased from Novartis last year, raising its annual capacity by around 1 billion doses.

* The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine rollout was behind schedule at the beginning of this year, but then companies like Sanofi SA (NASDAQ: SNY) and Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) stepped up to help with production.

* This month, European Commission struck a third contract with the companies for 1.8 billion more doses between 2021 and 2023.

* Price Action: BNTX shares are up 0.64% at $157.17, and PFE shares are up 1.26% at $39.52 in market trading hours on the last check Wednesday.