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The Forbes business news site has compiled a list of the 50 healthcare entrepreneurs who became billionaires in 2020. Here’s a look at the names that stand out from that list.
Uğur Şahin
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BioNTech founder Ugur Sahin – isopix
Net worth of his fortune: $ 4.2 billion
Uğur Şahin was just a stranger before the crisis began. It only appeared in the limelight in the fall of 2020. Why? The Turkish-born doctor founded BioNTech with his wife Özlem Türeci in the German city of Mainz. As you know, BioNTech worked with Pfizer on a vaccine against the coronavirus.
This vaccine is the first to be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) last year. Since then, the first vaccine deployment campaigns, also under the umbrella of Pfizer, have been deployed.
Ugur Şahin, who owns 17% of BioNTech’s shares, has seen his wealth increase significantly since then. The market value of the pharmaceutical company rose 160% between January and December 2020.
Prior to founding BioNTech, Ugur Şahin and Özlem Türeci founded Ganymed Pharmaceuticals in 2001. They sold the biopharmaceutical company to Japanese firm Astellas Pharma in 2016 for around $ 460 million.
Stephane Bancel
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Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna. Isopix
Net worth of his fortune: $ 4.1 billion
Stéphane Bancel is the CEO of the American pharmaceutical company Moderna. He took over the management of the French company BioMérieux in 2011 after leaving his senior management position. Stéphane Bancel holds around 6% of Moderna’s shares. He became a billionaire in March, when he still held 9% of the shares, after getting rid of some of his shares. During this time period, Moderna shares rose 550%. It goes without saying that he then made a nice profit.
Europe approved Moderna’s vaccine on January 6, which is 95% effective.
Timothy Springer
Net worth of his fortune: $ 2.9 billion
Timothy Springer is an immunologist and professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard University. He was one of the co-founders of Moderna in 2010. At the time, he invested $ 5 million in the company. A decade later, his 3.5% stake in the company is now worth around $ 1.6 billion.
Tomothy Springer has also invested in other biotech companies and owns stakes in publicly traded companies including Scholar Rock and Morphic Therapeutic.
Sergio Stevanato
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Sergio Stevanato and his two sons – stevanatogroup.com
Net worth of his fortune: $ 1.8 billion
Cannot administer vaccines without being able to store them safely. This is why pharmaceutical companies must turn to companies that produce packaging, including glass vials, for drugs and vaccines. The Stevanato group is the perfect illustration of this. It is also the world’s second largest producer of glass bottles.
Italian Sergio Stevanato runs the company founded in 1949 by his father in the suburbs of Venice.
The company, with sales of $ 700 million, is also the world’s largest producer of insulin pens and manufactures machines that produce, sterilize and package billions of vials, syringes and other products in glass.
In June, Stevanato signed an agreement with the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), supported by the Gates Foundation, to provide 100 million vials of nine different coronavirus vaccines. Since then, the company has entered into additional agreements with other vaccine manufacturers. The Stevanato group does not wish to disclose the names of these companies at this time.
Premchand Godha
Net worth of his fortune: $ 1.4 billion
Premchand Godha is perhaps the name that stands out the most on this list. He first worked as an accountant before making his debut in the pharmaceutical industry in 1975. He then took over the pharmaceutical company Ipca Labs with the family of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
The company, which produces generic drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients, has seen its market value almost double since 2020. A surge came after demand for hydroxychloroquine, a controversial malaria drug, increased. At the start of the pandemic, the drug was touted as a potential cure for the coronavirus. US President Donald Trump, among others, has called it a miracle cure.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has since denied this claim. According to her, the drug has little (or no) effect on the odds of death from the virus.
The full list of billionaires can be found on the site Forbes.be.
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