There appears to be a resurgence of the spread of the pandemic in many countries. While the world waited anxiously for a cure to the deadly pandemic in the form of an effective vaccine, the scientific community along with the pharmaceutical companies was in a race against time to complete all the processes from research, testing and trials, government approval and finally mass- manufacturing, so that the work of saving lives could begin in earnest. There was a palpable sense of relief when the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc and German pharma BioNTech SE announced on November 9 – “Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19”.
However, what added to that joy for the Muslim community all over the world was the news that it was a Turkish husband and wife team of Dr Ugur Sahin and Dr Ozlem Tureci, who were behind the development of the vaccine. The Turkish couple founded the company BioNTech with Dr Sahin its chief executive and Dr Tureci as its chief medical officer. Ever since it came to the limelight, BioNTech shares have rocketed more than 178% on a year-to-date basis with net worth touching $ 20 billion. The couple is now hotly tipped to bag a Nobel Prize.
COMPLIMENTARY PASSION
Ugur and Ozlem were both born into Turkish families in the 1960s. Their parents had migrated to then West Germany under an immigration arrangement with Turkey. Dr Sahin’s father worked in a car factory while Dr Tureci’s father was a surgeon. Since his childhood, Ugur was fond of science while Ozlem was exposed to medical practice and surgeries from a very early age. Both graduated with a medical degree and a doctorate programme. Dr Sahin completed it in immunotherapy while Dr Tureci’s area of research was molecular biology. They met while working in a hospital in Saarland and realised that their fields of academic research were complimentary.
The couple’s dedication for research can be gauged by the fact that even on the day of their marriage, they took out some time to visit the lab to study. Their first endeavour was to find ways and means to fight carcinogenic tumours. They set up their first company Ganymed in 2002. After doing some solid work in the field of mRNA and antibody therapies, they sold Ganymed for $ 1.4 billion in 2016. Having acquired a good reputation as pioneering research in the treatment of cancer and with a passion and determination to build a bigger company, Dr Sahin and Dr Tureci started BioNTech.
With a staff of over 1800 and offices in Berlin and other German cities, they tied up with American pharma giant Pfizer in 2018. They also received funds worth $ 55 million to work on HIV and tuberculosis. Although in terms of net worth, both Dr Sahin and Dr Tureci are billionaires, they lead a very simple life. They do not have a TV and avoid social media. They live in a regular apartment and cycle to work. They avoid getting into political debates, as the subject of Turkish immigration into Germany became a topic of discussion after they shot into international fame. Their only passion is research and science.
PROJECT LIGHTSPEED
Dr Sahin read about the emergence of the coronavirus in January 2020 in the medical journal The Lancet. He convinced BioNTech’s board that this virus detected in China’s Hubei province would soon acquire the shape of a global pandemic and the company started developing a vaccine programme on January 12, 2020, as soon as the genetic sequence of Sars-Cov-2 was made public.
Dr Sahin was confident that the mRNA vaccine would activate an antibody response against the coronavirus. As the body of the virus is spike-shaped made of protein cells that bind themselves to receptors found in the lungs, the antibodies would prevent the virus from docking as well as activating other cells to consume the virus.
By the time WHO declared the coronavirus to be a global pandemic in early March, BioNTech already had 20 mRNA vaccines, ready for trial. The company announced on their website – “We are developing a potential vaccine based on our proprietary mRNA technology to induce immunity and prevent COVID-19 infections in response to the growing global health threat. In order to accelerate the rapid development of our product candidate BNT162 we initiated the global development programme Lightspeed. The programme leverages BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA platforms for infectious diseases; it’s fully owned GMP manufacturing infrastructure for mRNA vaccine production, its global clinical development capabilities, and collaborations with Pfizer and Fosun Pharma, BioNTech was able to bring its first vaccine candidates from concept into clinical development in less than three months.”
After pre-clinical trials on animals, Germany’s regulator gave its approval for BioNTech to start clinical trials in April. The final extended trials started in July with results coming in November that the vaccine was overall 90% effective.
SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT
The Muslim Ummah dominated the field of science for many centuries. The Qur’an calls for critical thinking and developing the scientific spirit. It points out to the various phenomena in nature and cajoles us to reflect and investigate their existence.
The Qur’an (2:164) says: “Behold, in the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah Sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they Trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth;- (Here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise.”
Ibrahim Shogar from the International Islamic University Malaysia writes in a paper – ‘The Scientific Thinking in Islam: Factors of Flourishing and Decline’ – “The curiosity created by the Qur’anic revelation made the early Muslim intellectuals practice creative thinking in its true sense. This is obviously reflected in their original works and their contributions in translation and preservation of the scientific heritage of ancient sciences, such as Greek, Indian, and Persian. With great insights and critical methods, they inspected works of ancient nations and introduced it to the new generations. In fact, works of Muslim intellectuals progressed through spirit of creative insights, meticulous rechecking of facts, figures and data. Their practices contributed to new data with original quality as well as saving the scientific heritage, which was scattered within various languages of ancient nations. Their works have resulted in an account of two creative processes: invention of advanced technologies and providing insights to creative and analytical minds.”
Dr Sahin and Dr Tureci have made us proud. Let us emulate their passion for research and imbibe their scientific spirit.