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Marburg (dpa / lhe) - The Mayor of Marburg Thomas Spies (SPD) expects important impulses for the city through the settlement of the corona vaccine manufacturer Biontech.

"We think it is a great opportunity in Marburg that Biontech has chosen the location," said Spies of the German press agency.

It is entirely logical that the Mainz-based company has found its new production facility in the central Hessian city: “You need people who have the necessary know-how, who have mastered practical production.

And Marburg is one of the very few locations where vaccine production is already part of day-to-day business. "

A few weeks ago, Biontech took over a pharmaceutical plant in Marburg from the Swiss company Novartis.

Production there is scheduled to start in February.

250 million doses of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine are expected to be manufactured here in the first half of 2021.

The Mainz-based company is aiming for a total of 750 million cans for an annual production.

The plant is located on the premises of the “Behringwerke” pharmaceutical site, the origins of which go back more than 100 years ago to Emil von Behring (1854-1917), Nobel Prize winner in medicine.

"The site is aware of its tradition as a place for vaccine production," emphasized Mayor Spies.

This part of Marburg's history may not have been so well known in the past because, unlike in Behring's time, vaccinations have become a matter of course.

"Now we are in a situation in which vaccination suddenly has a whole new quality," he said, referring to the corona pandemic.

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Marburg can also be seen as a "hidden champion" in the pharmaceutical sector - who nevertheless "has developed an incredible dynamic in the last ten years".

The location has grown by a third.

Several companies with a total of around 6500 employees are based here.

According to its own information, the industry brought in an average of 90 million euros in business tax for the city between 2015 and 2018.

One thing is clear: Marburg's pharmaceutical division lives “from the competence of the people and the attractiveness of the location for the people who are needed for it,” said Spies.

The city is trying to create the appropriate framework.