Biontech has received $91.5m in equity funding as part of the extension of a deal to develop a cancer immunotherapy candidate with Sanofi.

Pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has made an €80m ($91.5m) equity investment in Germany-based immuno-oncology therapy developer Biontech in connection with the extension of a research and development collaboration agreement.

Spun out of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 2008, Biontech is developing immunotherapies to treat cancer and infectious diseases. It formed a research partnership with Sanofi in 2015 and the companies plan to team up on the development and commercialisation of a cancer immunotherapy candidate.

Ugur Sahin, Biontech’s co-founder and CEO, said:…