Is Comirnaty owned by Pfizer?

Comirnaty is co-owned and co-commercialized by Pfizer and BioNTech. Pfizer markets it in the United States and most global markets and splits profits with BioNTech, which developed the underlying mRNA technology and retains Germany and Turkey.

Is Comirnaty publicly traded?

No. It is a product brand. Its owners, Pfizer and BioNTech, are public companies trading on the NYSE (PFE) and Nasdaq (BNTX) respectively.

When was Comirnaty founded?

The vaccine was developed in 2020 under BioNTech's Project Lightspeed in partnership with Pfizer. It received FDA emergency authorization in December 2020 and full approval in August 2021.

Who founded Comirnaty?

The vaccine was developed by BioNTech's scientific team under founders Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, and commercialized globally by Pfizer. The collaboration began in March 2020.

What is Comirnaty's market position?

Comirnaty is the highest-selling pharmaceutical product in history by cumulative revenue and remains the leading COVID-19 vaccine in the US seasonal market. Current sales are a fraction of the pandemic peak as demand has shifted to annual booster campaigns.

Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

Who Owns Comirnaty?

Comirnaty is co-owned by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX). Pfizer, headquartered in New York City, holds commercialization rights in the United States and most global markets, sharing profits with BioNTech, which developed the vaccine's mRNA technology. Comirnaty received full FDA approval in August 2021.

Parent Company

Pfizer Inc.

Founded

2020

Status

Publicly Traded

Headquarters

New York, New York, USA

Comirnaty Timeline

1849

Pfizer Inc.

Parent company established in New York, New York, USA

Company Founded

2020

Comirnaty

Founded by BioNTech SE (vaccine development), Pfizer Inc. (development and commercialization)

Founded

GlobalOfficial Website

Who Owns Comirnaty?

Parent Company: Pfizer Inc.
Ownership Type: Licensed
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock Ticker: NYSE: PFE

Brand	Parent Company	Ownership Type
Comirnaty	Pfizer Inc.	Licensed

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Comirnaty on Amazon

History of Comirnaty

Founded: 2020
Founders: BioNTech SE (vaccine development), Pfizer Inc. (development and commercialization)

BioNTech was founded in Mainz, Germany, in 2008 to develop personalized cancer immunotherapies using messenger RNA. When SARS-CoV-2 emerged in early 2020, Sahin redirected the platform to a vaccine program called Project Lightspeed. BioNTech reached an agreement with Pfizer in March 2020: Pfizer would fund and run large-scale clinical trials and manufacture and distribute the vaccine globally, leveraging industrial capacity BioNTech lacked.

The phase 3 trial read out in November 2020 with approximately 95% efficacy, among the strongest vaccine results ever recorded. The FDA issued emergency use authorization on December 11, 2020, and full approval followed on August 23, 2021 under the Comirnaty name, the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive full US approval.

Commercially, Comirnaty produced revenue at a scale unprecedented for a pharmaceutical product. Pfizer reported roughly $36.8 billion in Comirnaty revenue in 2021 and combined with BioNTech's share the product generated more than $50 billion annually at peak, making it the best-selling pharmaceutical product in history during the pandemic years.

The vaccine's composition was updated repeatedly to match circulating variants, including bivalent formulations in 2022 and monovalent updates aligned to subsequent strains through 2024 and 2025 seasonal campaigns. As the pandemic emergency ended, revenue declined sharply from peak: Comirnaty contributed a reduced but still multi-billion-dollar share of Pfizer's FY2025 revenue, within the company's $62.6 billion total.

Pfizer's 2025 acquisition of Metsera and its continuing respiratory vaccine pipeline reflect the company's effort to replace pandemic-era revenue with durable products, but Comirnaty remains on the market in updated formulations targeting seasonal COVID-19 vaccination.

About Pfizer Inc.

What does Pfizer own?
Pfizer owns a portfolio of prescription medicines and vaccines spanning oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, vaccines, and rare diseases. Key products include Eliquis (anticoagulant), Prevnar (pneumococcal vaccine), Ibrance (breast cancer), Vyndaqel (rare heart disease), Paxlovid (COVID-19 antiviral), Comirnaty (COVID-19 vaccine, with BioNTech), and Abrysvo (RSV vaccine). The 2023 acquisition of Seagen added oncology antibody-drug conjugates including Padcev, Adcetris, and Tukysa. The 2025 acquisition of Metsera added obesity treatment candidates to the pipeline.

Is Pfizer publicly traded?
Yes, Pfizer Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker PFE. The company has been publicly traded since 1944. Pfizer has no single controlling shareholder, with major institutional holders including Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street. Pfizer is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.

Who founded Pfizer?
Pfizer was founded in 1849 in Brooklyn, New York by Charles Pfizer and his cousin Charles Erhart. Charles Pfizer was a German-born chemist who emigrated to the United States. The company's first product was santonin, an antiparasitic agent. Pfizer's breakthrough into modern pharmaceuticals came during World War II when the company developed large-scale penicillin production using deep-tank fermentation.

Where is Pfizer headquartered?
Pfizer is headquartered in New York City, New York, USA. The company maintains its principal executive offices in Midtown Manhattan. Pfizer operates manufacturing facilities in the United States, Belgium, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, India, and Brazil, and sells products in more than 125 countries worldwide.

How many products does Pfizer sell?
Pfizer sells dozens of prescription medicines and vaccines across multiple therapeutic areas. The company's portfolio includes products in oncology, vaccines, cardiovascular, immunology, rare diseases, and hospital products. Several of Pfizer's products each generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, including Eliquis, Prevnar, Ibrance, and Vyndaqel. The company's research pipeline includes hundreds of compounds in various stages of clinical development.

Who owns Pfizer?
Pfizer Inc. is publicly traded on the NYSE with a broad institutional and retail shareholder base. No single shareholder holds a controlling stake. Major institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street. Albert Bourla serves as Chairman and CEO. Pfizer has no founding family or private equity controlling shareholder.

What is Pfizer's financial performance?
For full-year 2025, Pfizer reported revenue of $62.6 billion, a 2% decrease from $63.6 billion in FY2024. Excluding COVID-19 products (Comirnaty and Paxlovid), revenue grew 6% operationally. Net income was $7.77 billion, down 3% from $8.03 billion. Adjusted diluted EPS was $3.22, up 4% from $3.11. Net cash from operations was $11.7 billion. For FY2026, Pfizer projects revenue of $59.5 to $62.5 billion and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.80 to $3.00.

Founded: 1849
Headquarters: New York, New York, USA
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock: NYSE: PFE
Revenue: $62.6 billion (FY2025)
Employees: approximately 88,000

Visit Pfizer Inc. website

View full company profile for Pfizer Inc.

Where Is Comirnaty Made / Based?

Headquarters: New York, New York, USA
Manufacturing / Operations: United States, Belgium, Germany

Comirnaty Categories & Tags

Covid 19 Mrna Vaccine Vaccines Prescription Pandemic

Comirnaty Recalls & Controversies

Comirnaty's controversy record is defined by the pandemic context. Pfizer faced criticism over vaccine pricing, over intellectual property protections that limited supply to lower-income countries during the global shortage period, and over the liability shields under government purchase contracts.

Safety surveillance identified a rare myocarditis and pericarditis risk concentrated in adolescent and young adult males, which regulators labeled and monitored rather than restricting use. A 2023 lawsuit by the state of Texas alleged Pfizer misrepresented vaccine efficacy; Pfizer defended the claims citing clinical data, and the matter has proceeded through litigation without a finding against the vaccine's approved labeling.

Rare clotting and allergic reaction reports were tracked through pharmacovigilance with regulatory updates, consistent with a product administered billions of times. No wholesale recall has occurred.

Comirnaty Ownership: Pros & Cons

Advantages

+BioNTech's mRNA platform validated at global scale positions the partnership for future vaccine programs
+Pfizer's manufacturing and distribution network delivered the largest vaccine rollout in history
+Historical revenue funded transformative acquisitions including Seagen and Metsera
+Established brand and regulatory pathway enable annual strain updates like a flu vaccine model

Considerations

-Revenue has fallen sharply from pandemic peak and depends on uncertain seasonal uptake
-Split economics with BioNTech limits Pfizer's margin retention on collaboration sales
-Public controversy over pricing, IP, and rare adverse events carries reputational cost
-COVID-19 vaccine demand remains difficult to forecast across successive seasons

Frequently Asked Questions About Comirnaty

Sources & Further Reading

Competitors to Comirnaty

These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.

Brand	Parent Company	Country	Founded	Market Position	Primary Market	Gender Target
PfizerSister Brand	Pfizer	USA	1849	Premium	Global	All-ages
AbrysvoSister Brand	Pfizer	USA	2023	Mass market	Global	All Genders