According to the Times, Sahin read an article from The Lancet in January on Wuhan's outbreak. He spotted the potential dangers and, according to Reuters, saw how BioNTech's work on mRNA could be applicable for a vaccine.
That's when the company had 500 staffers start working on potential compounds for "Project Lightspeed."
As Business Insider's Andrew Dunn reported, BioNTech had worked on a potential flu vaccine with Pfizer in 2018. As Sahin began to focus on coronavirus research, he called Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer's head of vaccine research, in February.
BioNTech partnered with Pfizer in March, and began human studies of a vaccine in late April.
By September, German weekly Welt am Sonntag listed the duo as among the 100 richest Germans — they came in at 85th.
BioNTech's valuation was up to $25 billion on Friday. A year ago, it was a little under $3.4 billion.