Sean Marett 🇩🇪 | BioNTech, Art of Dealmaking | E25

We’re in Hamburg with Sean Marett, who has been instrumental to the success of BioNTech for 12 years.

We talked about the secrets behind BioNTech’s success. We also talked about the art of dealmaking and working with China.

⭐️ ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sean joined BioNTech in 2012 as part of the Management Board. He was instrumental in the growth of the company and global expansion through business development and product commercialization. Prior to BioNTech Sean worked in top companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Evotec, and Lorantis. I first met Sean in 2015 in Berlin, when BioNTech had no website, but was already the largest private biotech in Europe. Now Sean has retired from BioNTech after 12 years but still aids the company as a specialist consultant.

🔗 LINKS MENTIONED

- BioNTech Announces Planned Retirement of Sean Marett: https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-announces-planned-retirement-sean-marett

- BioNTech pays $800M to take control of potential Keytruda killer: https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/biontech-pays-800m-take-control-potential-keytruda-killer

- Sean Marett, COO at BioNTech, on the Future of mRNA Therapies - 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zrDKRvsAEU

- The 25 Most Valuable Biotech Companies in Europe in 2025: ⁠https://flot.bio/most-valuable-biotech-companies-europe-2025/⁠

📜 TRANSCRIPT

Read the full transcript here: https://flot.bio/episode/sean-marett-biontech-dealmaking/

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Flot.bio is a show to watch the best Europeans in biotech to help you grow. Hosted by Philip Hemme. 15k monthly views. Free.

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

- [00:00:00] Intro

- [00:01:45] Sean Marett stepping down as CBO of BioNTech

- [00:05:10] From Pfizer to BioNTech

- [00:15:28] Building a biotech in Mainz

- [00:29:02] The art of biotech dealmaking

- [00:45:29] Mistakes in dealmaking

- [00:57:45] Biotech dealmaking in China

- [01:04:25] Managing energy

- [01:08:17] Quickfire

- [01:13:57] Thanks for listening