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November 11, 2020There are two scientists, a couple of Turkish origin who have lived for years in Germany behind the vaccine that could eradicate Covid-19.

Their names are Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, husband and wife and they are the two souls of BioNTech, the German pharmaceutical company that together with the American Pfizer has developed the drug which, according to the announcement, would have an effectiveness equal to 90% of patients. 



They were among the first globally to initiate research on the Covid vaccine.

In fact, this has happened since last January, that is, before the coronavirus pandemic had the better of Europe.



The company - which is based in Mainz - called the project "Lightspeed", or speed of light, with the aim of developing a drug against Covid by 2020.



Uğur Şahin, the son of immigrants who arrived in Germany with his mother at the age of four, is now on the list of the 100 richest Germans in the country.

Today he is also professor of experimental oncology at the University of Mainz.

According to Welt am Sonntag, he occupies the 93rd place together with his wife Özlem Türeci, who also sits on the board of directors of BioNTech, with assets of 2.4 billion euros.



Uğur Şahin and his mother arrived in Germany in 1969, where their father worked at the Ford factory in Cologne.

He studied medicine and first worked at the university hospital in the Rhine city, then in Homburg, where he met his future wife, Özlem Türeci.

Together they founded their first company, Ganymed, in 2001, which 15 years later was acquired by the Japanese giant Astella for 1.28 billion euros, thanks to the development of innovative antibody-based cancer therapies.



Özlem Türeci, born in Lower Saxony from a family of Turkish origins.

Her father was a doctor, which led her to follow the same path, specializing in immunology.



BioNTech Şahin founded it in 2009, with Özlem Türeci immediately occupying the position of chief medical officer.

Their goal: to be able to find the specific therapy for each individual cancer patient “



The therapy developed seems to bear fruit, so much so that in December 2019 the European Investment Bank allocated 50 million euros to support their research.



A few weeks later, however, the first scientific report on the explosion of the virus in Wuhan and the two scientists understand that a pandemic would soon have broken out.

And so they decide to combine research on cancer with that on the new coronavirus, immediately focusing on a therapy based on messenger RNA.



In March, BioNTech enters into an agreement with Pfizer to collaborate in the development of the experimental vaccine, also involving the Chinese pharmaceutical company Fosun Pharmaceuticals.



In June, the BEI allocated 100 million to promote BioNTech research and two months later the European Commission signed a pre-agreement to purchase 200 million doses (today it has risen to 300 million). "



For Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci that of the drug anti-covid is "a humanitarian project", since "the sooner we have an effective vaccine, the sooner we can all return to our former lives".



In a recent interview, the head of BioNTech claimed that he immediately understood - as soon as he read the first research on the explosion of the virus in Wuhan - that covid-19 would turn into a pandemic